Our Familys first Book Drive

Coming home from church Sunday afternoon I saw "the truck" in the driveway, Grandpa's truck, the work truck that he uses to haul "big stuff" It was my daughters birthday, which meant one thing. Whatever grandpa made, it was big... Then we saw IT, The new heart-warming house, that put a smile on all our faces.  A book house we call it. a house for books to give back to our neighborhood.

For my Daughters 8th birthday she had asked for a "book house" There it was, on the corner of our lot, with the perfect location to help spread literacy. We are delighted to start this amazing journey of becoming Little Free Library stewards. There is a feeling of gratitude for this opportunity that my daughter and my father-in-law have created for our family and community.

Dreams do come True!

Seriously last year when I was brainstorming all the fun things I could do or would like to be, a librarian came into my mind. I remember my mom taking me to our small rural town library, where my great grandmother:  Grandma Starr was a librarian. At age 8 I wasn't a reader, in fact, I hated it, I wanted to paint, and write, not read. Grandma Starr instilled in me the love of reading. I can still picture the small library with my Grandma Starr showing me the nonfiction books, It was as if the mother ship called me home. I remember from that day on I would go visit her at the library in the summers and we would have "story time" sometimes it was sewing, cooking, or just having her listen to me read... She loved it, I still remember the twinkle in her eyes when I would read something and ask her a question. My love for literacy and writing blossomed that summer when I was 9.

So taking on this stewardship with the Little Free Library with my daughter is fulfilling a family legacy. If I can instill the love of reading for my family and help my neighborhood then the world can be a better place to live.

I need your help! WE need books to for our little free library (LFL)! I will take as many as you want to donate. I will stamp inside each book that it was donated, with the hopes that it comes back to our LFL for others to enjoy. If you don't have books but would like to donate some money, the money will strictly be used for books, and materials to help the growth of literacy in our neighborhood.

So to kick off the start of our Little Free Library, we are going to host a book Drive/ Donation Drive. I will have a tote out on nice days (no rain or snow) please donate some books at our Little Free Library. Inside the Library I will have some color pages for kids, maybe a treat, you will never know what is in the library... I hope that it will always be a surprise! Which is part of the fun!

My hope is during the summer we can have a craft table set up to make bookmarks, make a small craft that then can be made and given to nursing homes for the patients. My vision is to make this a fun event that is like a story time at a library. Please note, where we live the closest library is about 10 minutes away from us. We go to three different libraries, but all are at least a 10-minute drive from our house, which I think is too far away... ''

So happy reading!

On a side note I have some printed sheets from our favorite kid activity books from DownTown BookWorks, please take one and post pics of it when you complete the activity!