My husband, Chuck, and I are retired teachers. We love books and the people who read them. When we heard about a fun way to share our passion with our neighbors, we jumped right in.
The Little Free Library system was started by a man right up the highway from us. He wanted to honor his mother, a former schoolteacher.
He filled a model of a schoolhouse with his favorite books and put it in his front yard with a sign declaring Free Books. It was a hit, so he made a few more and gave them to friends.
Now that there are more than 15,000 Little Free Libraries across the globe, the signs say Take a Book, Leave a Book. Many libraries are made of recycled materials—ours is a discarded newspaper stand. We have a smaller sign dedicating the library to our moms. It’s in our front yard.
After we put it out, our neighbors were taking books…but they weren’t leaving any. So we talked about our project everywhere we went, even on vacation. Books began appearing on our doorstep.
One woman we met in Hawaii sent a big box of children’s books all the way from New Jersey. Our moms would be happy.
To find the Little Free Library nearest you or learn how to start your own, visit littlefreelibrary.org.
