The Odyssey School library, which Partners in Literacy built from scratch, has 26,683 books
Our most avid student readers, keep track of book authors like movie stars. They wait impatiently for the next book in a series. Other students gladly accept reading our recommendations of the last decades’ best books.
Frankly, there is just not enough room for all the old and the best of the new.
The important thing is that each book is in the hands of the child who wants to read it. Books on our library shelves which are constantly ignored, nag at us incessantly to get them into the hands of a child. We peruse the books donated to us from Odyssey families with an eye to keeping the ones that fit in our library and saving out the ones that would be more likely to be enjoyed in another community. Little Free Libraries are a brilliant way to get books from one neighborhood to another.
In 2017, Partners in Literacy bought a Little Free Library to put in front of Monaco Elementary in Commerce City, Colorado. The custodial staff set it up and the school bought a camera to keep an eye on it from the front office. Why Monaco? 84.7 % of its students receive free or discounted lunch. The neighborhood appears to have more industry than culture. We know that there are many circumstances where students do not get to check out books from their school library. Of course there are no check outs in the summer, but often if a student has an overdue or lost book, checking a book out is not surprisingly, forbidden.
The Little Free Library is a place where kids can get books, yes, used-but in good condition, with no strings attached.
Usually, Little Free Libraries have a sign that says “Take a book. Leave a book.” Not this Little Free Library, the sign we placed in its window says: Take a book, we will be back with more.
We refill the Little Free Library ten times a year. Each time when we come back to refill the LFL, the books we left are gone.
And the river flows on.
