Photo by Ron Burkett
Siblings Cooper, 11, and Barrett Landry, 6, stand with the Little Free Library at their house in the Longmeadow neighborhood in Trussville. Little Free Libraries are established by home and business owners around the country as a way to share books. Anyone passing by is welcome to pick up a book to read or leave old ones for others to enjoy in the LFL boxes, which are often decorated to look like homes or fit their owners’ individual tastes.
The Limbaugh family’s Little Free Library, a small box stuffed with books in front of their house, started as a family project. It became popular with the neighborhood almost immediately.
“The first day we were open, the line was all the way down the street,” said Lara Limbaugh, a mother and teacher in Trussville.
Little Free Libraries are established by home and business owners around the country as a way to share books. Anyone passing by is welcome to pick up a book to read or leave old ones for others to enjoy in the LFL boxes, which are often decorated to look like homes or fit their owners’ individual tastes.
“The idea is that you leave a book and take a book.” Limbaugh said.
The Little Free Library website has 75,000 registered locations in 88 countries, including the one in the Limbaugh family’s yard on Clubhouse Way. Their library is the only registered one in Trussville, according to the website, but there are also Little Free Libraries at Turkey Creek Nature Preserve and Guerrero Supermarket in Pinson. The library at the supermarket is sponsored by Pinson Public Library and includes English and Spanish reading materials.
Limbaugh and her family created a Little Free Library for their Longmeadow neighborhood two years ago, when children were given a long summer due to the opening of two new elementary schools.
“My son, Cooper, is extremely gifted and loves to read,” Limbaugh said. “I knew I had to do something to make it an educational summer for my kids ... as well as something fun for them.”
The project turned out to be a labor of love for the family, with them constructing the “library” box to look like their personal home. Limbaugh’s kids Cooper and Barrett “take pride” in changing out the books every week, always making sure that there’s a fresh set of books.
While it’s been fun for the family and their neighborhood, Little Free Libraries also play a role in encouraging literacy and access to books at any age.
According to the National Education Association, children in families below the poverty line are less likely to be read than children in more affluent homes. NEA studies have shown children who are read to multiple times per week are more likely to recognize letters of the alphabet at an early age. Reading to children also correlates with writing and counting skills and children picking up books to attempt to read on their own.
The Educational Testing Service, a private nonprofit for testing and assessments, has claimed that having a variety of reading materials in the home will increase a student’s reading proficiency and can lead to higher test scores. However, ETS reported that students become less likely to read for fun when they get older.
Some families cannot afford regular book purchases or don’t make a habit of going to the library, limiting their reading options.
While there are ways in the classroom and at traditional libraries to encourage a love of reading and provide age appropriate book, Little Free Libraries add an element of fun and surprise, while keeping books accessible to everyone who walks or drives by.
“One family comes every night and uses it as their daily library visit,” Limbaugh said. “We had a single dad knock on our door one night and was crying. He said that he cannot buy enough books for his daughter and she reads one a day. By the time he gets off work, the library is closed. Our Little Free library offers him a chance to take his daughter to a ‘library’ and experience it with her.”
To find a Little Free Library near you or learn how to start one of your own, visit littlefreelibrary.org.
