Spreading a love of literature one tiny house at a time

They're cute as a button and their contents cost nothing.

It's an appealing if sometimes perplexing combination.

"I have people who walk by and they just look at it," Northbrook resident Merrill Medansky said of her Little Free Library.

"Maybe they think they have to pay or return the books, and that's not the case at all. They're just there," she said.

Yes they are, officially 15 of them in Northbrook now that Medansky registered her recent installation with Little Free Library.org, based out of Hudson, Wisconsin. There likely are more around (there are six registered in Glenview), but they haven't been registered.

A Little Free Library is just as it sounds. Usually securely fastened atop a post sunk firmly into the ground, the "library" itself is typically a wooden box with a door that opens to reveal a shelf or three of books and other materials people can simply remove, read, return, donate to another location or keep. In her personal and online travels, Medansky has seen ones also offering yarn and personal care items.

Her little library is painted red and topped by house shingles on its little slanted roof. It contains paperback books, mostly fiction, with some young adult themes and a few children's books neighbors have given her.

They can be homemade jobs or they can come in kits, which can be relatively pricey. A kit available for purchase at Little Free Library.com runs nearly $330. On the other hand, that website also has a page in which people have repurposed odd items, such as an old microwave oven, to serve as a Little Free Library.

Contents can be replenished by an owner's personal stock, by soliciting donations from library overstock or by friends and neighbors who would like to promote the effort and contribute books and other reading materials.

Megan and Danny Watters, who live near Meadowbrook School, bought a fully assembled library from the Etsy website about a year ago.

"We put it out just to do something fun in our neighborhood," Megan Watters said.

It's stocked with a variety of books, from kiddie favorite "The Wonky Donkey" to adult fare such as "Little Fires Everywhere." The response has been building, and Megan has found unfamiliar books in her library, so people have been donating.

"We've gotten a lot of action," she said. "At the beginning of the pandemic there was a little less usage, but this summer people have been using it a little more. I try to refresh the books every couple weeks and make sure there's books for everyone in there."

The concept of residents, schools or businesses - the Glenview Grind coffee shop has registered a Little Free Library - offering free books might seem at odds with a Big Municipal Library that depends on people using it.

That is hardly the situation, according to Kelly Durov, the Northbrook Public Library's Youth Services manager.

"The goal of the library is to extend beyond the library building and to really serve our community in any way and anywhere we possibly can," she said, "particularly if we are able to instill a love of literature and literacy with the folks that we are serving in Northbrook."

The Northbrook Public Library, led by Durov, Friends of the Library and volunteer Jenny Powell of Glenview, now maintains four Little Free Libraries, painted by the library's Teen Advisory Board. Depending on their size, they hold around 20-40 books balanced between youth, teen and adult themes.

"I've got to say, they're absolutely beautiful," Durov said.

"Just walking around town and looking at the different designs is a whole lot of fun."

COVID-19 has been no fun at all, but people have found walking to be a satisfying diversion.

Durov advises those interested in exploring a Little Free Library's wares to wear gloves to take books out, and let them sit at home for three days before reading.

Merrill Medansky hopes to see a little more action at her Little Free Library, though she said children have been excited when they realize what it is.

After all, like she said, it's got a huge selling point.

"How many times do we see something that's just free?"