Little Free Libraries

Have you ever seen one? Opened one up? They're usually located in front of private residences, just like a mailbox would be. Each one is decorated a bit different and contents are unique, of course.

{stock photo from Pinterest of a LFL in Poulsbo, WA. Obvi I love it because
it's in one of my favorite states and the hippie culture is legit.}

I'm kind of obsessed. It all started with a simple geocache about a year ago that led me to one, and now every time I stumble upon one, I'm usually sitting in front of it for a half hour after just reading books with the kids.

Last week I had about 15 minutes to kill before the children's museum opened after dropping Benjamin off at school, so I drove a few blocks to find a geocache. I never did seek or find the cache, but stumbled upon a Little Free Library instead and easily wasted away those free minutes. I traded out some books I had in the car and vowed to go through the books we've outgrown or tired of for trading at other little libraries.

We met a friend and her daughter for a walk to her local park today and on the s-l-o-w walk back with two small kids who stop to touch and feel ants and small rocks and dandelions, we finally made it to our car, but not before stumbling upon another little free library. (I have ditched the stroller recently in favor of walking to close parks because exercise feels good and for the additional tactile exposure to nature). It was one of the cutest I've seen and was stocked with books of all genres and age groups. We probably read 6 of the 30+ books before having to peel my kids away to head home for dinnertime.

Benjamin was sad to leave behind two he fell in love with (one about Lord Licorice from the CandyLand board game that he cheats at) and another, The Gingerbread Cookie Mystery. We read the princess book and saw the Fancy Nancy books and read the Curious George, but he chose these two obscure books because he's kind of obsessed with sweet treats. So after buckling them into the car, I grabbed a couple books from the car stash and drove back over to the library for a quick exchange to grab those two new beloved books. He sat "reading" them the whole way home and requested them read the moment we walked in the door. He's always been a book nut and I love what these adventure walks and little libraries do for their curiosity.

More than the little library itself, I want to know who lives inside these homes that make it their mission to maintain these little adventure containers and promote literacy for neighborhood people of all ages. It's just super cool. The teacher in me has full on emoji heart eyes for these little libraries. And really, who doesn't love mini things? I mean, really.