OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE: Fuller likes to share her love for books

Apr. 29—Everybody has a story, librarian Jennifer Fuller says.

Her story involves growing up with a love of books and a love of gardening.

"I was an only child, so in the summer mom went to the library and checked out a whole stack full of books," the Florida native said. "I would spend my summers reading those and dreaming of far off places and adventures."

She recalled how she loved book series.

"Favorites included the Babysitters Club, about a group of girls who did babysitting tasks in the community, and the Boxcar Children about orphaned children who lived in a boxcar and solved mysteries.

One summer, Fuller worked as a teen volunteer at the Clearwater, Florida, library.

"I got to help at the library for the summer reading program," she said. "I helped log and shelf books children had read. One year for Halloween we did a haunted library and it was really fun."

That clinched her love. Fuller earned degrees in childhood education from the University of North Florida in Jacksonville.

She moved with her husband to northeast Oklahoma and landed a job with Muskogee Public Library a couple of years ago.

Fuller got into gardening, almost by necessity, when the couple moved into a new house this year.

"When we moved in, you could tell it had rose bushes growing in the front of the house," she said. "My husband and I debated whether they were going to be alive or not, and I said 'we're going to give them a chance.'"

Sure enough, roses began blooming a few weeks ago.

"We pulled the weeds from the flower bed put in mulch and planted a few more," she said. "And we're about to plant a peach tree."

Youth programs keeps Fuller busy

Jennifer Fuller keeps busy directing the library's youth programs — and she likes it that way.

"It's constantly changing on a daily basis," she said. "I love working with the children and families and providing them with new book opportunities or maybe other opportunities or experiences they haven't participated in before."

Upcoming opportunities include exotic animals and a giant bubble show.

Wednesdays are especially busy. Fuller leads a story time at 10 and 11 a.m. and also helps with a junior artist program for home-schooled children. She also leads Wow Wednesdays, an after-school program that focuses on different things each week — Legos, crafts, cooking, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics).

She does a story time 10 a.m. the second Saturday of each month.

"I hope in the fall to add a bedtime story time," Fuller said. "We'd read a story, sing some songs to calm down in their pajamas before they go home and go to bed."

Fuller said playing and interacting with the children is the favorite part of her job.

"Dinosaurs are a big hit with all the children," she said. "Then we do puzzles."

She said her biggest challenge "is finding time to do everything I want to do."

Getting family involved in reading

Fuller said she likes checking out books with her 10-year-old son.

"We would check out a bunch of books and read them at bedtime and I enjoy reading them as much as he does," she said. "It's time together. It gives us something we can do as a family. Something with a relationship, where a thing wasn't distracting on us. It's something we can connect together with. It gives us special memories."

She said her son is getting into chapter books.

"He just got finished reading 'The Dog Diaries' by James Patterson," she said. "That's something new that he's discovered. So, now it's more of those."

Fuller also recommends book she or her husband read when they were younger.

"I'd say, 'hey, try this one,'" she said. "I know he's heard of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' or has seen the movie. But, really, he hasn't read 'Charlie and the Glass Elevator,' either. So I just try to introduce some books.'"

She's just as choosy when picking books for library story time.

"I try to pick them with every one," she said. "For example, it might be an anniversary or special day. I try to match the theme with a holiday that's coming up or a calendar event, such as National Puppy Day and I choose five or six books with that theme."

There are books are for everyone

Fuller enjoys reading a variety of books on her own.

"One interesting picture book that I read recently was called 'The Extraordinary Gardener,' by Sam Boughton," she said. "It's a book about a little boy who has an imagination, and he wants the town to be more colorful. The book starts out with little color, it's more black and white. He uses his imagination and he plants flowers. And then he starts giving flowers away to his neighbors, and the book goes on, and at the end of the story, all of his neighbors have a plant. So it has the color of all the neighbors' flowers."

Though on the third-grade level, people of any age can enjoy the book.

"I think it has a great message," Fuller said. "The book can inspire imagination, and the book can inspire you to do something for your community or do something for change."

Fuller also enjoys historic fiction. She recently read about packhorse librarians, who took books on horseback into the Appalachians during the Great Depression.

"I think it's interesting to learn about people who came before us," she said. "I think there's always a lesson we can learn in our lives. It's also relatable in that every person has a story."

Q and A

HOW DID YOU COME TO BE AN OKIE FROM MUSKOGEE?

"My husband got a job with Northeastern State University, so we moved out here for him. I got my degrees to be a teacher and work in the childcare field. I saw that the library had an opening with the youth. And I felt like with my love of reading and past life experiences that this would be a good fit."

WHAT DO YOU LIKE BEST ABOUT MUSKOGEE?

"I like all the festivals we have. My favorite festival has been the balloon festival. I love the sense of community."

WHAT WOULD MAKE MUSKOGEE A BETTER PLACE TO LIVE?

"The continued partnerships among the different community services. That way, we can offer more to our families."

WHAT PERSON IN MUSKOGEE DO YOU ADMIRE MOST?

"I really have to say that, since he's visited the library, I really got to meet the mayor a couple of times. I really feel he is a good inspiration to our community, trying to get positivity, getting people excited about doing things like cleaning it up or helping those families that are in need."

WHAT IS THE MOST MEMORABLE THING TO HAPPEN TO YOU IN MUSKOGEE?

"When my husband and I had a chance to buy our first house. We bought it right after the first of the year, so now we're spending our weekends in the garden and getting it how we want it."

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

"I love to watch my son play baseball. He like to go to the craft shows that are around in Oklahoma, and we've been to one in Arkansas.

HOW WOULD YOU SUM UP MUSKOGEE IN 25 WORDS OR LESS?

"It's a welcoming, friendly town that gives you that hometown feel and a sense of community, where you actually can run into your neighbors."

MEET Jennifer Fuller

AGE: 37

HOMETOWN: Clearwater, Florida.

EDUCATION: Countryside High School, Clearwater; Bachelor's and Master's degrees, University of North Florida.

PROFESSION: Librarian 2, over youth services.

FAMILY: Husband, Jay; son, Cooper, 10.

CHURCH: First Baptist Church, Muskogee.

HOBBIES: Reading, taking pictures, crafting and scrapbooking, gardening.