The bookshelf outside Deirdre Whalen’s Pacific Grove home is guarded by a tree with angel figurines among its branches.
“That tree saved our lives,” Whalen says.
Whalen was asleep with her husband Mike when a Waste Management truck came crashing into their home, shearing the gas line and damaging a wall. If the tree hadn’t been there, the hydraulic forks used to lift dumpsters could have pierced their bedroom.
The tree survived getting speared. Whalen stuck a novelty coin with an angel where a branch had been pruned. The wood has since grown around it; the coin still peeks out.
After the incident, Whalen wanted to bring positive energy back into the space. The avid reader found exactly what she needed in an old bookcase discarded by a friend.
She painted it, decorated it with fake jewels and stacked it with her old books. It became the “take it or leave it” neighborhood library, where anyone is welcome to pick up or drop off old books.
The open wooden shelves, about an arm’s span wide, welcome other donations, too. Some people have left jewelry with the tags still attached. A guy dropped off a bunch of guitar magazines. Tourists strolling nearby Lighthouse Avenue take pictures beside it. The inventory cycles in and out frequently.
“Stephen King is gone in minutes,” Whalen says. But if the shelf is ever bare, it gets replenished before long.
Whalen’s library is an independent project. But a larger, organized movement, called Little Free Library, is popping up in communities worldwide. It began in 2009, when Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built one in his front yard to honor his mother. He and a friend created a startup to build more.
“How could anybody be so angry at a box of books?”
Today there are more than 23,000 Little Free Libraries worldwide. California added 593 last year, the most of any state. About 20 are registered in Monterey County.
Building officials in some cities, including Los Angeles and Shreveport, Louisiana, are reportedly cracking down on LFLs that don’t have the proper permits. Luckily, none of the local folks I spoke with have had that problem.
Most LFLs are about the size of a large birdhouse, with a closing door and roof. Each has at least one steward who maintains it.
Mary Alicia McRae, vice president of Friends of Salinas Public Library, sees LFLs as a tool to bring books to the people. “In certain parts of town, not everyone can get a ride to the library,” she says. Plus, there are no due dates.
Her goal is to get an LFL in each of Salinas’ 48 parks. So far, the Friends have four city parks covered: Central, Claremont, El Gabilan and McKinnon.
Children’s books are the most popular. The busiest location, McRae says, is Central Park, where people take up to 100 books a week.
BettyAnn Hedegard is the steward of Central Park’s library. At 82 years old, she loads up and rides her mobility scooter to the park at least twice a week, navigating the wheelchair-unfriendly sidewalks to get there. She straightens the remaining books inside, removes any that have been untouched for over two weeks and adds new donations supplied by Friends or herself.
Hedegard has had a lifelong love affair with books. She remembers stopping by the Carnegie library in Decatur, Illinois on her way home from school as a little girl. “You have no idea how exciting it was finding a dozen books about horses!” she says, voice crackling with laughter over the phone.
Being a steward keeps Hedegard engaged with the community. While she’s at the park, she tells parents and their kids that new books have arrived. She lets the littlest ones climb on her lap or scooter to reach the top shelf.
One of her favorite customers is a little girl who left her a chalk drawing of a princess with a crown on her head. “This is you,” her caption read, indicating Hedegard.
Unfortunately, the Central Park library has been vandalized twice. Somebody once ripped off the door. Half of Hedegard’s own butterfly decorations have been scraped off.
“How could anybody be so angry at a box of books?” she asks.
But the Friends repaired the damage and installed a new door – an all-wooden one without Plexiglass. Hedegard plans to bring back the butterflies, too.
She sees other positive things happening at the little library. Just recently, so many donations were added that the door wouldn’t close.
Hedegard plans to keep filling the library as long as she has books to put in it and the stamina to keep coming.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.