My name is Allison Rhodes and I have been an elementary school librarian for fifteen years.  My love for reading began very early in my childhood.  As a toddler I had books that played along with a record player, with the command, ¨turn the page¨ coming out of the speakers.  Sesame Street was always on the television, and both of my parents read every day.  Growing up I also stayed with my maternal grandpa while my parents worked as educators.  He was an oral storyteller by nature, a self taught musician, a World War II veteran, who grew up to watch The Great Depression right outside his familyś front door.  The Reynolds tobacco family had established themselves in a nearby county and with them they brought a brand new world to Stokes county, North Carolina.  The Reynolds family built a school and it was open for business and my father started in the second grade.  He was the only one of six children to graduate highschool.  The pursuit of an education and the ability to read and write was drilled into us, it was a way to build a future beyond being a laborer, a farmer, a caregiver to the old and poor.  My grandpa read the newspaper every single day of his life, front to back.  In fact when I can still see him in my mind, sitting at his green formica table with a cup of coffee and his reading glasses perched on his nose.  He was very proud that he could read, he knew many and helped many who could not, forever lost in confusion and comprehension of words.  
Education:
UNC Wilmington- BA Psychology
Appalachian State University-Masters of Library Science
Gardner-Webb University-Masters School Leadership
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