By Mari Radtke
The Archer, Iowa library has reopened after its abrupt closure in the late fall of 2020 due, primarily, to poor climate control. Annee Carlson, a Granville, Iowa resident has accepted the challenge of reopening. And she is hitting the ground running.
Annee is the youngest of 5 girls. She was raised in upstate New York and spent a career working for foundations supporting National Literacy. Before that, she specialized in early childhood, working at a Montessori school. Later she earned her MA from University of New York and followed that with a second MA in Religion and Counseling.
Annee lost her husband many years ago and did missionary work for a while. During those 30 years she did mission work in 8 different countries and 13 states. Much of her career and her travels have been in underserved areas throughout the world and the nation.
Annee arrived in Iowa in 2011 working with National Literacy. She travelled and wrote a book. Well, actually 9 books in all with 2 more underway. They are all children’s books. It’s the illustration she is so passionate about. She illustrates her own books.
While visiting, she was busy cutting out images of fruits and vegetables from an old magazine in preparation of a story time program she was planning with a visiting farmer who will speak about corn and soybeans, then read a story. She expects to have a puppet shows and a crafts as a part of story time. They are held each Wednesday through June. The theme of story time across Iowa this year is “Reading Colors My World.” Her goal is to give children a love of learning to read, of reading, holding a book in their hands and to write about something.