MENTOR, Ohio — There are more than 100,000 registered Little Free Libraries around the world. According to the Little Free Library website, 42 million books are available through the public book boxes each year.
What You Need To Know
- An Ohio family set up a free book box in their front yard
- They hope to encourage people of all ages to read
- The family collected more than 500 books to help fill up book boxes around the city
Tara Greggs is a steward for the Little Free Library.
She said she has always had a passion for literacy and the Little Free Library provides a way for her to share her love with her community.
“Ever since I found out about Little Free Libraries, I knew that I wanted one,” Greggs said. “This past Christmas, my mom and her fiancé surprised me and built us this Little Free Library to put in the front of our home in Mentor.”
Greggs is used to sharing her love for books. She does it professionally every day as a school librarian.
“I just remember my grandma always reading with me and just stopping to take that time to read,” she said. “I absolutely love that and I always have a book with me.”
Greggs calls her little library the “Book Nook” and has added a bench to encourage people to stay and read.
“So the concept of the Little Free Library is to take a book, leave a book and I also love to say, ‘read the book,’” Greggs explained.
She plans to share books with more than just her neighborhood, and she hopes to keep the 20 other Little Free Libraries in Mentor stocked all summer long.
After putting a post out on social media, Greggs received more than 500 book donations from around 50 people in her community.
“Myself and a couple of friends are taking on the challenge of stocking all of the Little Free Libraries around Mentor this summer,” she said. “My son and I often visit the local parks and we notice that the Little Free Libraries are empty, which hopefully is a good thing, and that means our community is reading, but it also shows me that there is a need to keep these Little Free Libraries stocked.”
Updates on Greggs’ Little Free Library may be found on social media at ‘Book Nook on Sandtree.’
