Page Ahead is pleased to present the 2026 Sarajane Beal Award for Volunteer Excellence to Annabel Wrightsman.
Annabel began volunteering for Page Ahead in March of 2024 after being a long-time donor. She first learned about Page Ahead at the Seattle Public Library website and with her background as an editor and interest in children’s literature (including creating her own picture book manuscripts), our organization was a perfect fit for her. She had already put in many, many, volunteer hours at her son’s school and at local high school libraries, so supporting her community, especially with literacy, comes naturally.
Annabel first began with bundling bags and bookplates for Book Up Summer, but quickly transitioned into a weekly volunteer willing to take on any task that needed support. She has helped with some of the less glamourous jobs like sorting old files in our office, moving boxes around from one area of the office to another, and unpacking and sorting items from events. She has also helped with packing books for our Story Leaders program and bags and book plates for Book Up Summer. So she knows her way around our many piles of assorted boxes and the tape gun. Annabel has helped us count books during our annual inventory and of course sorted through kid thank you notes and stuffed envelopes for mailing.
Annabel has taken classes on children’s literature and has so kindly donated the many books she acquired for those classes to Page Ahead. She even donated books she won at a raffle during the American Library Association conference in Chicago this past June. These beautiful books feature many diverse characters and wonderful stories for us to send to the students we support.
For the past two years, Annabel has helped at our annual luncheon setting up, decorating tables, blowing up balloons, collecting table captain packets, and packing everything back up to return to the office. Just knowing that Annabel is there, willing to jump in and support us however needed is a great relief to us on one of our busiest days of the year.
One of the volunteer tasks that Annabel has been most excited about is being a Story Time reader. She very thoughtfully chooses her themes and books to best align with the classroom energy and teacher’s curriculum. And with her extensive knowledge on children’s literature, she has no shortage of great books to consider sharing during Story Time. Annabel has also been a Summer Story Time reader at the Ballard Locks. These story times are quite challenging, because the families are spread around on the grassy hillside and not always near enough to fully enjoy the books being read aloud. But Annabel stays after the book reading to offer a “book picnic” where she encourages the families to borrow a book and read together with their child. She does such a good job of bringing book joy to the families who come to those Summer Story Times.
Annabel has become one of our most reliable volunteers in the last two years. Whenever we have a task we need extra support with, or need someone with a keen eye for detail, we know that every Friday we will have Annabel’s support. Her communication skills, timeliness, and hardworking attitude makes her incredibly easy and enjoyable to work with.
This past year has been extra special for Annabel, who has put in a total of over 125 volunteer hours, all while studying to get her Master’s in Library and Information Science at UW! Along with all of the previous volunteer activities I mentioned before, Annabel was an amazing helper with getting our office moved. She helped take down posters and awards around the office, pack them for safe moving, and clearly labeled the packages. She helped sort through and box up our many miscellaneous items that we had in the conference room, bathrooms, hallways, you name it! She even helped us disassemble furniture we were giving away. Once we were unpacking in this new office, Annabel was here to do it in reverse. She helped sort out all the office supplies, move boxes around in the storage room, unpack and display the awards on our book cases, and rehang up the kid art. She even donated a new first aid kit to us, after learning that we had no bandages and all our isopropanol had expired 15 years ago. Annabel was such a huge help to us with this move!
Annabel’s passion for Page Ahead and her many hours of service to all of our programs, helps us to support so many schools and children with books and the joy of reading.
Thank you, Annabel! You truly make a difference at Page Ahead!
