Booklist Online: Book Reviews from the American Library Association

Cindy: Our local newspaper, The Grand Rapids Press (Mich.) runs a weekly feature called the Sunday Profile that provides a lengthy biography of someone in the community that has a passion for what they do. Earlier this summer I was surprised by Lynn’s collusion with one of the reporters who has covered our library exploits over the years and they recommended me for this feature. The reporter who did the story, Terri Hamilton, spent three hours at my home and an hour at one of Lynn’s and my summer BBYA teen book club meetings at school and also talked with Booklist editor Gillian Engberg and a past student to bring you this story that provides more than you would ever want to know about Cindy Dobrez in her little red roadster. You can read the article here. I feel a little odd posting about this, but how often does a librarian get a page and a half in the newspaper about their job? You can see the pdf of the front page coverage here, and the article continues inside to almost fill another page. I was happy to get to give some credit to Lynn in the article as well. Most of my professional achievements have come in tandem with her and the article could just as easily focused on her, although she’d have to get a tattoo!

Several people have already asked about the large books in the photo. Lynn and I designed those while building the original Harbor Lights Middle School Library. The contractors had them built to our specs and then we had our students suggest titles and vote for the ones that would be permanently painted on the spines. They are usually standing upright with another set, flanking our security gates at the library exit.

Lynn: Cindy is my dearest friend, colleague and co-conspirator so factor that into my remarks but she deserves every word of praise in this article. It is so rare for librarians to get such good press that we decided to post this. I hope that those of you reading this who are not librarians will actively support the critical role of librarians in your schools and communities. Librarians can make an enormous difference for young people in so many ways and Cindy is one of the best!  Cindy inspires me and the teens in our area every day! I am NOT going to get a tattoo however

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