The Little Free Library

What’s better than a library? Germaine Greer said, “In any library in the world, I am at home, unselfconscious, still and absorbed.”

Are you familiar with the Little Free Library? It all began in 2009 when a man in Wisconsin constructed a small replica of the iconic one-room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother, a former school teacher. He filled the little house with books and put it on a post in his front yard. It held a sign: “FREE BOOKS.”

In the spirit of the “take a book, leave a book” movement that took hold in coffeehouses and public spaces, the Little Free Library encourages passersby to take a book and leave one of their own. The book can be returned to any of the Little Free Libraries.

My friend Karen Chilton Forber started a Little Free Library a couple of months ago in her neighborhood of Snug Harbor. I can only imagine how vital this will be in the summer, when visitors and guests flock to the shores around Matunuck. There’s always a rainy day, even in the summer, and what’s better than finding a great book to read on a drizzly afternoon in a beach house?

And to personalize the LFL, she has dedicated it in memory of her friend Cathy Martz, who was an artist, teacher, avid reader and champion of any activity that brought people together and created a sense of community.

Could your neighborhood benefit from a Little Free Library? All the information is right on their website. Think about it and think about all the good it can do. What a great resolution for 2014!