The fourth graders had just arrived at Tri-Valley Middle School, and Kelsey McDowell noticed something immediately. They were excited about books.

It was their first visit to the middle school library, and the students who had moved up from Amie Mouser's elementary library were eager to make their selections.

"You can tell that Amie gets them excited for reading," McDowell said. "They were so excited to check out their first books today."

For two librarians who work in different buildings and with different age groups, this is essentially the handoff. Mouser helps children fall in love with books. McDowell helps them keep going. Their approaches are different because they are different.

McDowell's love of reading took off in sixth grade. "I loved the idea of complex storytelling," she said.

That love eventually led McDowell to become a high school English teacher. She taught for 10 years, including five at Tri-Valley, before discovering library science while pursuing her master's degree. She has now spent seven years in the middle school library.

Mouser's literary heart belongs somewhere else entirely.

"My jam is little kids. And picture books."

She can trace that affection to first grade, when a beloved teacher helped her learn to read. Decades later, she still owns some of her childhood favorites.

"Picture books are what just touch my heart," Mouser said.

Her path to Tri-Valley included an elementary education degree, seven years at State Farm, and five years at home with her children. When her son began kindergarten at Tri-Valley and the elementary librarian retired, Mouser applied. Fifteen years later, she's still here.

Together, McDowell and Mouser represent a continuum that begins with a kindergartner holding a picture book and extends to a middle school student discovering increasingly complex worlds. But neither woman believes reading is simply about becoming a stronger reader.

"When you read, you learn about other people, you grow in empathy," McDowell said. "You can step foot into someone else's life. You grow in kindness, and you grow in understanding."

She teaches students to think of books as both mirrors and windows. A mirror allows a reader to recognize something of themselves in a character or story. A window offers a view into a life unlike their own.

"Books help us feel like we belong," McDowell said. "But it's also important to read books that are windows, books that give us a glimpse into what somebody else's life is like."

At the elementary level, Mouser adds another purpose: imagination. Her kindergartners visit twice each week, once for a library lesson and book checkout and once for STEAM activities. That second visit is deliberately screen-free for most of the year. Instead, there are Legos, Magna-Tiles, Lincoln Logs, and challenges inspired by stories.

"I want them learning to play, to imagine, to learn how to get along with other people," Mouser said.

Later in the year, she introduces coding through small robots that respond to colored tiles. Children build pathways and work together to make the robot travel where they want it to go.

Sometimes it doesn't work. That's part of the lesson.

"Things don't always work the first time," Mouser said.

The children have to reconsider, solve problems, communicate, and negotiate with one another. Those lessons extend beyond the library. So does the sense of belonging.

Mouser describes Tri-Valley as small enough that children are known not just by classroom teachers, but by principals, custodians, office staff and other adults throughout the building.

"We are all here to help all of the kids," she said.

The two librarians also work together on book fairs and family reading nights that have drawn hundreds of children and parents. Mouser makes sure every elementary student gets a birthday book, including students whose birthdays fall outside the school year. Children who cannot afford books at a fair can still leave with one through donated funds and other resources.

The objective is not complicated. Put books into children's hands. Help them find one that matters. And then see where it takes them.

For one child, perhaps it will be a mirror. For another, a window. The destination can be different for every reader.

At Tri-Valley, McDowell and Mouser simply want to make sure every child gets the chance to begin.