Librarian tops in state

Not a single book was on the shelves when Candy Ranney became the library media specialist at Mountain View Elementary School in 2006.

The books had been packed away for a renovation that didn't happen when funding fell through. Without books until the second semester, Ranney turned to her lifelong passion for science and engaged the kids in identifying animal skulls and examining owl feces for fur and bones. In the ensuing years, she founded a Reading Buddies program for first grade students and their stuffed animals and gave them the opportunity to watch salmon eggs hatch in a library tank....