If you follow social media you've probably seen recent articles on a kid in the states who built a little free library for his front yard and was asked by his municipality to take it down. (He got a lot of support and was able to keep it.) This was the first I'd heard of such a thing though I later realized that I bike by one on my way to work. The idea intrigued me so I decided to see if there were any in Surrey. There was only one and it was more of an open box with a single book in it. I felt it wasn't doing Surrey justice so I decided I would take a few weekends and build one myself.
It turns out that Little Free Library is a not for profit organization that started a few years ago in the U.S. There are now over 16,000 of them around the world. (16, 232 assuming I'm one of the most recent ones.) They send you instructions and a name plate and the rest is up to you. I've researched hundreds of them and they range from old suit cases on the back of a bike to elaborate phone booths meant to look like the Dr. Who tardis. Much of mine was with scrap materials from previous projects so the cost was low and it was fun trying to figure out how to keep it water proof. A tiny house on a post.
It's already been quite a success. I've had several people sign the guest book and there are books coming and going almost every day. I'm looking forward to when school starts again because we get quite a few parents with kids walking by. The kids are always intrigued with it which is why I kept it quite low so they could check it out them selves. No vandalism problems so far though someone did temporarily steal the guest book. (I don't think they could read english and didn't understand what it was.) They brought it back though. Now I'm just waiting for it to rain so I can be sure it's waterproof.
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