Meet the Staff Featuring Julie Perenchio

Julie started at the White Oak Library District June 29, 2020. She is a Children’s Services Specialist, and works at our Romeoville Branch. She went to Bradley University for undergrad, and Eastern Illinois University for her master’s degree in English

What are your top three favorite books of all time? Awesome question!

Who is your favorite author of all time? Can’t pick just one, sorry! But one of my new favorites is Jason Reynolds!

What genres can our patrons quiz you about to find the best books to read? Teen fiction, juvenile historical fiction, and picture books

What books are on your to be read pile at home?

What’s your favorite band? The Avett Brothers

Do you have any pets? My two sweet pets are an adopted brother/sister pair of orange tabby cats named Perry and Angela. They came all the way from Missouri when their original owner couldn’t take care of them anymore. At the time, their names were General Lee and Daisy Duke. I can’t imagine a show I relate to less than The Dukes of Hazzard, so my kiddo and I promptly renamed them. Perry is an 18 lb. monster who LOVES food, also hanging out with me on the floor while I stretch after working out. Angela is a tiny little bean and a bit simple, completely hilarious, and a wonderful lap-cat. We spoil them shamelessly.

What’s your favorite thing about working at the Library? Talking to kids who are excited about reading. Far and away, that.

What was your very first job? My very first job was making sandwiches in the kitchen of a golf club. I would make the sandwiches and then send them down in a dumbwaiter to my sister, who worked in the snack shop. This began my love affair with dumbwaiters.

What’s your favorite food? I am the carb queen! I love pasta and cereal, plus baking makes me happy. I also adore a juicy ripe peach (although an unripe or mealy peach is truly disappointing to me), and I make a really good vegetable curry.

What’s your favorite color? Green

What do you like to do in your free time? Reading (of course!), running or hiking with Boyfriend, singing musicals with daughter Shannon, obsessing about cuteness of cats

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be a veterinarian! But then I went to college and found I was terrible at Biology, Chemistry, and Math, so I changed my major to Communications and went on to be a college English professor for many years.

If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you travel, and why? New Zealand! I’m a huge Lord of the Rings nerd, and I would do all the Lord of the Rings nerd things that people go to New Zealand to do:)

What is one cool fact about you? I can’t wink!

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