Michelle Muth works overtime to make her library a safe place for kids
Ahead of the 2025 Crystal Apple Awards for outstanding educators on May 29, Salem Reporter is profiling several of the 101 nominees. The awards are presented by the McLaran Leadership Foundation and the Salem Area Chamber of Commerce at the Salem Convention Center. Tickets are sold out, though viewing room tickets are available for $25.
During recess, Michelle Muth’s library was full of kids.
About a dozen fourth and fifth grade students filled the tables set up near the Wright Elementary School library door, getting out blocks, jewelry-making kits and magnetic art boards to play with.
Over the course of the period, several came up to Muth to have her tie off bracelets or mediate disputes over coveted toys.
“They’re pretty much the same kids that come every single time,” she said. “Some of these kids don’t play at home any more, so getting to do these things is so much fun for them.”
Muth started hosting recess activities this school year following a brainstorming session with other school employees about how to alleviate behavioral challenges being caused by too many kids on the playground.
Students can now ask their teachers to sign them up for library recess, taking some pressure off the educators supervising students outside.
It’s one of many ways Muth, the school’s library media assistant, extends her work beyond the school library to help Wright thrive, according to the coworkers who nominated her for a Crystal Apple award.
She’s helped lead a revival of the school’s student council and regularly serves on school committees.
Muth knows families at Wright so well that she can recognize each car that’s supposed to pick up a student at the end of the school day.
“It’s incredible that she can make those connections,” principal Amy Coyle said. “Outside of just the school, she knows the families. She is attending to their needs in lots of different ways.”
Muth is in her eighth year running Wright’s library. She came to the job after previously working in education before taking a hiatus to raise her own children.
While her title includes “assistant,” elementary schools in Salem have a single person running the library who selects books, maintains the space and holds classes for hundreds of children each week.
“My main goal right now is just to keep them reading and keep them hooked on books,” Muth said. “That’s a big challenge with them right now — a lot of them don’t want to read.”
She’s worked to cultivate a diverse selection of books in her library that appeal to kids of all ages. Muth said she’s constantly researching new kids’ books coming out and seeing what might appeal to her students as their interests change over the years.
“I’m not a fantasy girl so that’s always hard for me because a lot of these guys are,” Muth said of her students.
One teacher wrote about a former student who struggled to read. Muth discovered the student loved cook books and stocked them on her shelves. It helped the child become a successful reader, the teacher wrote.
Lately, her fourth and fifth grade students have wanted romance, challenging her to find books that will interest them while remaining appropriate for young readers.
“It has to be real clean. We’re working really hard to build that for them,” she said.
Her Crystal Apple nomination packet included a handwritten note from a second grade student, who said, “Mrs. Muth lets us read cool books. She has all different books. Like books about Earth, animals, and books about girls like me. Mrs. Muth makes the library fun but she protects us like a soldier.”
Muth said she didn’t think she deserved more recognition than any other educator, but felt “very honored” by the nomination.
“You put a lot of work in every single day so it’s nice to be seen,” she said.
Contact reporter Rachel Alexander: [email protected] or 503-575-1241.
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Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers education, economic development and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for over a decade and is a past president of Oregon's Society of Professional Journalists chapter. Outside of work, you can often find her gardening or with her nose buried in a book.
