Take a book, bring one to ‘Little Free Library’
WENDY HOPKINS pictured with husband Boyd Hale and son, Hop, built the little library in front of the family’s home on N. Gower.
Looking for a new book? Or maybe you have a stack of them on your nightstand you’ve already read, but can’t bear to discard. Thanks to the popularity of a grassroots movement that has book lovers erecting small structures outside their homes and businesses—where people can take books and leave some behind—you don’t have to go far to do either.
The first Little Free Library appeared on a lawn in Wisconsin in 2009. Word travelled fast, and using tips from the website littlefreelibrary.com, people all over the country have taken part in the feel-good effort to share their love of reading.
RESIDENTS of St. Andrews Square and passersby alike take advantage of Henrietta Cosentino’s library.
Henrietta Cosentino recently hosted an impromptu ceremony to dedicate the Little Library she set up at the front of her yard at 107 S. Gramercy Pl. “Since then many books have come and gone, and we mostly have no idea by whom,” she said. “Sometimes it’s bursting with books, and other times it looks as if it will go completely empty, but it never does. And just when we think we may have to intervene, some mystery contributors come and fill it up.”
Wendy Hopkins got the idea for her Windsor Square library from a story she read in the newspaper. She checked out the Little Free Library website, and “after seeing some of the amazing creations, I knew I had to build one.”
It became a family affair, with her mom helping to dig the post hole, her husband and son choosing paint colors and her dad helping to put the finishing touches on the box in front of their home at 141 N. Gower.
“I think the best thing about the libraries is that they inspire people to give. From the man at Anawalt Lumber who gave me the roof tin for free, to people who have contributed handmade bookmarks… it seems to be a magnet for acts of kindness,” said Hopkins.
ON LARCHMONT: Dr. Arthur Kezian and his staff designed and decorated their streetside library, above.
Dentist Dr. Arthur Kezian thought his location at the corner of Rosewood Ave. and Larchmont Blvd. would be the perfect spot for a Little Library. He enlisted the help of his gardener, who built it, and members of his staff, who decorated it. A nearby bench provides browsers a place to sit. “It’s such a positive thing,” he said. “And it offers a real sense of community, which is what Larchmont is all about.”
Category: News
