Unshakeably Ms. B
Brennan’s love of books started as a child growing up in Alief, a suburb of Houston.
“I had wonderful experiences with the libraries I went to,” Brennan said. “I went to Olle Middle School and I went to Kennedy Elementary, which was super fun because their library had little alcoves, like orange and blue and green and one was the moon and one was the jungle and so it was fun to just go and sit and read in there. I was a really hyperactive kid so I would get all my work done and the teachers would send me to the library to get out of the room.”
A choir kid, Brennan recalls looking up to her section leader as a role model and even wanted to continue singing in college. However, a rejection from the College of William & Mary pushed Brennan to change course, so she earned a degree in marine biology from A&M Galveston instead – her graduation, though, coincided with the 1980s oil glut.
“The oil companies were tanking, and those were the people that were hiring marine biologists,” Brennan said. “You couldn’t get hired as a marine biologist if you didn’t have your doctorate. I kind of wound up taking a different path because of that happening. That was something that was totally not in my control.”
Brennan went back to the University of Houston and earned a degree in education. She began teaching at Lake Olympia Middle School but soon found another cause to take on.
“I wound up wondering why I had all these seventh graders that couldn’t read, so I started working on my master’s in reading,” Brennan said. “I did that for about 17 years. After that, I was wanting to do something different, and so I became a librarian [and] got my second master’s degree in library studies.”
While at Christa McAuliffe Middle School, a Title One school, Brennan says she saw students, from sixth to eighth grade, at a third-grade reading level simply because of a lack of opportunity. As a result, Brennan took on the role of getting donated books to the kids’ homes, and even providing school supplies and dispersing food from the Houston Food Bank.
“[I learned] to be more grateful for the opportunities that I’ve had in my life, the opportunities to go to school, the opportunities to meet and travel and do all those things that many of those students may never have,” Brennan said. “So it makes me very grateful. And I’m very grateful to be here at Clements and get to meet kids that are going to go out and make the world an amazing place.”
Brennan’s distinctive hair, dyed a bright Clements blue, makes her instantly recognizable wherever she goes – and wherever, as it turns out, is almost everywhere.
“It’s hard not to know who Ms. Brennan is,” AP Human Geography teacher Christine Badillo said. “Ms. B just kind of throws herself into everything. She wants to be involved. She seeks out opportunities to help others and give her love and joy to others. So you really just have to show up to work and you’re going to run into her and be a part of her every day.”
Badillo, who co-sponsors the Student Council, says Brennan has not only allowed her human geography classes to use the upstairs library but has also opened the library space for Model United Nations and Student Council meetings. That’s not it, though – Brennan also helped with the African American Student Association’s Living Wax Museum, Ranger Camp, and Homecoming.
“I think she’s one of those people that no matter what’s going on in her life, and she’s had some rough times, she still brings joy,” Badillo said. “She is one of those people that no matter what you’re doing, you know that you can go and talk to her and she’ll be really busy, but she will set aside time to talk to you, to help you with whatever you need.”
Junior Grace Trinh recalls that when she was struggling with a class, Brennan was “really, really understanding”, which helped Trinh become more comfortable with talking about her feelings.
“Ms. B, she does a really good job of listening to anything that anybody has to talk about even if she doesn’t know you,” Trinh said. “She does a really good job of empathizing with you and trying her best to make sure that any problem, anything that she can do to solve your problem, she does.”
Junior Hanine Elhanainia visits the library twice a day – once in the morning and once at lunch, if not after school, too. She calls the library a “safe place”.
“I don’t feel comfortable where there’s a lot of noise, so the cafeteria and other places make me feel very uncomfortable,” Elhanainia said. “Ms. B understood that part of me and she started to let me come into this back room where it’s silent and I can be more comfortable and be with other people that are around here.”
Even among teachers, Brennan is known as a “caretaker”, in AP Calculus teacher Ricardo Garcia’s words, whether in the form of helping students print their assignments at the last minute or offering staff treats or coffee.
“I think that a lot of people don’t realize what actually goes into making the library successful,” Garcia said. “A lot of people are like, you just check out a book and that’s it. But no, there’s so much more to it. The role of librarian has definitely evolved from what it was in the past to maker spaces and different activities throughout and just making it a cool place to hang out…It’s really neat that we have someone who cares, who goes above and beyond, who gives so much time to make sure that kids have a place.”
How would you describe yourself in three words?
I would say a good listener, probably try and solve too many problems, but energetic.
What’s your favorite book?
So my classic choice, my go-to is the “Count of Monte Cristo.” I love it. And then, of course, my favorite book that I probably have read 55,000 times in my life is “The Secret Garden.” It’s like a book that you open up and you just kind of go back in time to a different place.
What’s your favorite genre?
I still love my sci-fi. I love my zombies. I love my Hunger Games, Divergent, all of those. I’m trying to get more into fantasy, so I’ve been reading a lot more fantasy, but I would say sci-fi and historical fiction.
Who’s your favorite author?
Golly, I love Jonathan Mayberry. I’ve been digging all the Holly Jackson and the [Karen] McManus books. The Inheritance Games, and then, I love Sarah J. Maas. Suzanne Collins.
What’s a book that you dislike, but respect?
I’m going to go to “The Goldfinch.” I hated “The Goldfinch.” It’s a Pulitzer. Donna Tartt is the author. It’s about an 800-page book and it was a Pulitzer and it’s beautifully written until the last 30 pages. And I absolutely, totally disagree with the choices that that author made. And that’s the author’s choices, but I can’t change it. But man, was I angry at the end of that book and still get angry when I think about the end of that book.
So what’s the best movie adaptation of a book that you’ve watched?
I would say “The General’s Daughter.” They did a really, really good job. And then the other one is, I think they did a great job on the first Hunger Games movie. But then I think it got too much. And then the very first “Divergent” was great. And then they just kind of lost it, movie-making-wise.
If you weren’t a librarian, what would you be?
I do have a master’s in reading, so I do tutor several dyslexic students. I’ve been trained to do that, so I probably would be working on doing that more full-time.
Why blue hair?
COVID was hard and I was at McAuliffe and it was really, really hard at McAuliffe. That’s a title one school, about 94% of the students are free and reduced lunch, so it’s a, it’s a tough, tough school. And so I needed to do something to make myself happy. So I went purple.
When I walked in the door and I interviewed with [former principal David] Mr.Yaffie, who I had known, he’s like, “I don’t know about the purple.” I was like, “okay.” And he goes, “You’re going to have to talk to Coach [Robert] Darnell.”
So I said something to Darnell, and he said, “Can’t be purple. Got to be blue.”
So that’s how I went blue.
At the 7:20 bell, students start to make their way out of the library. The henna is complete, the bottle capped, backpacks slung on shoulders, goodbyes-for-nows uttered.
They’ll come back soon, carrying trays or lunchboxes at mid-day, then again after school to chat with friends or find a good read. Sometime later, when most have left, the lights will dim and Brennan will lock the doors.
Though of course, they won’t stay closed for long.
