Little Free Libraries

Little Free Libraries

Have you ever visited a Little Free Library??

On Tuesday I visited my first Little Free Library.  I saw a picture online of a little free library and started investigating to see if there were any in St. Paul and what I found surprised me.  Little Free Libraries are located all over the world, including my home town.  So that settled it, I need to visit one.  So I grabbed some books to donate, because the premise of the Little Free Library is to take a book and leave a book.  Then I picked up my kids,  to introduce them to this literary phenomena, and drove to my first Little Free Library on 4th Street in St. Paul.

At first we couldn't find it but then we looked a little harder and there it was on the street, next to the sidewalk.  We brought four books to donate to the library.  When we started looking through the books I couldn't believe it, there were books inside that I wanted to read by authors I absolutely love.  I noticed there were lots of books inside by Minnesota authors and that made me very happy.

I chose three books by three of my favorite authors that I haven't read yet.

1.  Getting the Girl by Markus Zusak ( he wrote The Book Thief and I am the Messenger and I loved both of these books)  My son looked at this one and determined he MIGHT read it.

2.  Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson (author of Speak)  So excited to read this one.

3.  Rasputin's Daughter by Robert Alexander ( Robert Alexander is from Minneapolis and wrote one of my favorite books, The Kitchen Boy, which incidentally is being made into a movie)  Yay!!  Happy to find this one, even though it is an ex-library book.

My daughter Georgia found one book.

1.  Snap by Alison McGhee.  McGhee lives in Minneapolis and used to be a teacher at South, where I currently teach.  I have not read any of her books yet.

My son took this picture and he was in a hurry.  He didn't wait for me to smile but please note, I am super happy about this Little Free Library.

Since Tuesday I have visited three other Little Free Libraries.  All of them in Minneapolis.  One is located at Minneapolis Public Schools district office and I was there for a training on Wednesday, so I snapped this picture.  I didn't find any books in there that really interested me this time.

Then as I was running errands and re-routed around construction, I ran into two more Little Free Libraries.  They are significantly more of them in Minneapolis, than in St. Paul.

This one is so pretty!  I just loved it.  I took a beading book from this library called Complete Beading for Beginners.  Georgia and I love to make jewelry together.

This was a nice homemade library because it looks a little different than the others.  I like the double shelf.  I chose the book Summer Rental by Mary Kay Andrews.

I think I will have to create a Little Free Library to put in my neighborhood.  I think this is the coolest idea.  Little Free Library was started by a man who lived in Hudson, Wisconsin (about 30 minute drive from my home) who created a Little Free Library as a memorial to honor his mother, who loved books. It has since taken off to become a world wide adventure in providing books to small towns and urban areas around the world.  So cool.

You can order a library kit or build your own.  You must make sure it is weather proof and register your library on the website.  I have noticed some of the libraries have a name plate on them.

Here is the website to check out.  Click on the map to find Little Free Libraries near you.
http://www.littlefreelibrary.org/

Isn't this cool?  I want to hear if you have visited or found Little Free Libraries in your neighborhood.