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Lipika Bhattacharya

Silver Oak Elementary School's Library Media Assistant, Karen Hokanson, is passionate about many things, especially books and rocks. She is also known for having an unusual library pet, a purple tarantula named most appropriately, "Spider". Under her care, the Silver Oak Library has become a readers' paradise. She calls her library work "the Job of Her Dreams". The SO Library collection is exhaustive and ever growing with new books being added often. All classes have library-time and all students are encouraged to check out books. There is a wide selection of picture books and easy books to encourage younger children and their parents to use the library frequently.

Hokanson is a San Jose east foothill native who still lives on the apricot orchard where she grew up.Her love for books started when she was young and used them to escape into the fantasies and fairy tales of Andrew Lang's books. She says that the words she reads become vivid images in her mind, much like watching a movie. Growing up, her second floor bedroom in the "Tank House" lay just below the orchard's water tank. She used to love telling her friends that she slept underwater. Even back then, her room was filled with books.

At Silver Oak, she talks to kids about books and rocks with the same enthusiasm she experienced as a child. It seems like she is always available and ready to discuss a story, an invention, or a mystery with the students. She has a wonderful ability to connect to the children at their level – and thus is very popular with all visitors to the library.

Hokanson and her husband of 36 years share another passion - trains. Together, they have taken numerous unforgettable journeys on trains. These journeys have also provided her a source to add to her rock passion. She loves to scout for ballast rocks near train tracks. These rocks are used for the 2nd grade Egg Carton Rock Collection project. Just last weekend, three SO 2nd grade teachers met at her house to begin preparing this year's specimens. The project is a great hit and is currently being used with 2^nd Grade classes in four Evergreen District schools.

Hokanson also shares her rich collection of fossils, rocks and minerals with SO's students during their geology units. This year's 4^th grade began their geology unit with library tables covered with pads and large rock specimens. Students gathered in the library to pass around her interesting samples of different rocks. Now 4^th grade classed have finished the use of a rock lab she has developed.6th grade classes at SO also used the lab this past fall.

This spring, Silver Oak's Kindergartens, 2^nd and 3^rd grade classes will join Hokanson in the library for a fun fossil field trip. She has also received permission to share rocks with some of her former schools.Next week, she will share rocks and minerals with Holly Oak's 4^th grade students. The 2nd graders at Dove Hill, Holly Oak and Katherine Smith will also have a chance to learn about fossils before the end of the school year.

The Evergreen School District is very fortunate to have someone like Karen Hokanson!