Have you heard of these Little Free Library locations?
Last week we were at the Elizabeth Township Park (in Brickervillle) after we visited the Pretzel Hut. I hadn’t been there in awhile and I was super excited to find this cute little free library!
I immediately went home and visited their website to see what the little free library was all about, and apparently there are dozens of locations around Lancaster County that offer them. You can see on this map that you’ll find them all the way from Mount Joy, to Ephrata, to Terre Hill, to Strasburg.
I will be honest though, the map is a little confusing. If you live in Lancaster city, it’s easy enough to just search Lancaster, PA and you get good results, but if you are looking for the rest of the county, the best way I found was to search all of Pennsylvania and zoom in. Searching for a zip code doesn’t produce accurate results.
Here’s what I found for the broader Lancaster County region.
A closer look at jus the Lancaster city and more central Lancaster County locations. You can see the interactive map here.
What is a little free library?
Basically, it is a little free library. You can borrow books from it, take books from it to keep, and add books to it. They recommend contributing good quality, favorite books from your personal reading list that will motivate, inspire and encourage a love of reading for all ages.
Anyone may use it—neighbors, friends and passersby. The books are always FREE.
We found this book and started reading it right away under the shade of a tree. My kids loved it and begged to read more.
I was surprised to see that there was a variety of books included in the little free library—some for children, some for adults, some novels, some fiction, some non-fiction.
I absolutely love this idea and can’t believe I have never heard of them before (originally written in 2018). You can check out the map on their website if you’d like to find more specifically located near you, but as I drive around the county, I’ll often notice them in places where they are not listed on the map, often times I’ll notice them in front of churches too.
After I wrote this post, a reader emailed me with a link to his video on a book about the Little Free Libraries. I wanted to share it here because it sounds like the book is quite inspiring, about how a little idea can become a world wide movement.
Here is his video. I think you’ll find the New York City spaceship library quite intriguing.
If you’re interested in buying that book and reading it on your own—I definitely want to learn more about the unique little free libraries in New York City, like the spaceship one—you can find it online.
Build Your Own Little Free Library
I’ve also heard from several of you that you’d love to put one in your neighborhood. I’m sure you could find someone local to build you one, but if not, did you know Amazon has kits for sale?!
