Reader's Fave

I recently interviewed Mari Bello for our 21st installment of Reader's Fave, a casual interview with someone who shares their favorite book. Mari is visiting her grandparents, Lee and Diane Tischer, out on Puget Island.

Mari was recently selected as the Summer Library Intern for Cathlamet Public Library and is working alongside Librarian Vicki Franklin, learning what it takes to run a library day-to-day. When you come into the library, be sure and give Mari a warm "hello."

Mari will be a senior this year at Everett high school. When asked, she mentioned her interest in chemistry. "I had a really good teacher this past year," Mari said. "It was fun to explore in the labs we had." She finished AP biology this past year and will be taking AP chemistry this coming year. She's hoping to be able to attend the University of Washington, which she has visited many times with her family for UW football games.

As we began, Mari shared the book "Between Shades of Gray" by author Ruta Sepetys. The book is a historical fiction story about a Lithuanian girl and her family who are forcibly separated and removed to Siberian work camps during WWII.

How did she come across this book? In the school library one day, Mari, as an eighth grader, saw the book on one of the displays and decided to check it out. She mentioned that she read the book in about a week, taking breaks from school work and life. When asked what she liked about the book, she reflected, "I thought it was well written .. and I didn't know much about Hitler and the Soviets." Mari also mentioned she had some background from reading and studying the book "Animal Farm" by George Orwell in seventh grade, learning a bit about WWII and the Holocaust. Mari further recalled really enjoying the book due to "the author using a lot of descriptive language." She said, "It painted a movie in my head .. I enjoyed that."

Mari seemed to relate to the main character, Lina, who is experiencing this horrific tragedy at the age of 15. Lina completes drawings on pieces of cloth, seeking her own solace and hope while also leaving discreet clues about her family whereabouts. Mari shared she was close to the same age as Lina when she read the book as an eighth grader, finding a connection there. She also seems to share an association with Lina and her drawings, as Mari enjoys doing drawings and paintings during her own free time.

As for being a reader and discovering enjoyment in books, it seemed Mari's mom had a strong early influence on her becoming a reader. "My mom would buy a lot of books .. and we'd go to the library .. and she'd read to me," she said. "I would get a lot of books." Also, in first grade Mari remembers her teacher reading the Chicka Chicka Boom Boom books aloud to the class and said, "We all laughed." Later in seventh grade, things got more serious. "We were given reading logs," Mari said. "I had to do them, but it gave me more opportunity to find books I'd enjoy."

Today, Mari is busy not only with being a library intern but doing her school work and living a young life. The opportunities for casual reading are "not as available for her," she shared, but when she can, she usually likes to focus on getting realistic or historical fiction books to read. She's a busy gal, so be sure and give her a warm welcome whenever you visit the library.

May you wonderful Wahkiakum readers, during our summer days here in the Pacific Northwest, find and discover a book that you connect and associate with in your own way.