If you’ve walked to Verona Park through the Brookdale section lately, you may have seen it: A bookshelf that invites you to take a book to read, and leave a book that others might enjoy.
The portable stand at 108 Park Avenue belongs to Isabel DiTrani Montick and it’s an outpost of the Little Free Library movement. Little Free Library is a Wisconsin-based nonprofit that aims to make more adults and children more avid readers by making books more accessible. Its volunteer members have created more than 70,000 tiny libraries in 85 countries, circulating millions of books a year.
Little Free Library provides free library building instructions and online resources, as well as access to free or discounted books through its partners. It also maintain a world map of registered Little Free Libraries and if you use it, you’ll find that there’s another Little Free Library at 20 East Lincoln Street in Verona, and five others in Montclair.
If you take a book from a Little Free Library, you don’t have to bring the book back (it’s all on the honor system), but you should drop off at least one other book to replenish the bookshelves. Little Free Library librarians like Montick often share their favorite books with their community, making their outposts a highly personal view of the book world. And their presence can give readers another place to donate books, especially at times like now when the Verona Public Library can’t take in donations because of its construction project.
Happy reading.
How wonderful ot you to share your love of reading with the community!