Lyndsey Langston, a teenager from Otsego, loves the touch-and-feel animal books she read as a young child. “I pretended they were real animals, and I would take them around with me, even to church.”
This spring she sorted through all of her children's books and chose 50 of them to donate as part of a service project initiated by the Young Women's organization of the St. Cloud Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Fifty young women like Lyndsey, their mothers and leaders collected, labeled, packaged and donated 700 gently-used books for Little Free Libraries in central Minnesota.
A Little Free Library is a miniature library holding around 50-75 books that may be perched on a post in a park, front yard of a personal residence or in another outdoor location accessible to the public. One in Prairie Park in Otsego looks like a big bird house and is decorated with hand prints from children.
The mission of the larger organization, according to their website, is to “to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide,” and “to build a sense of community.”
When Otsego resident, Amy Stemler, began the effort in the spring of 2012 to bring Little Free Libraries to Otsego, she wanted to target young readers, from age three years old to those in the sixth grade.
“It's a wonderful program to get books in children's hands. I'm a teacher and fully believe in this program to get children to read,” Stemler said.
She only stocks children's books in the libraries she operates so that parents can trust that the books a young reader brings home will be appropriate. Anyone can borrow a book with the expectation that the book will be returned a week later. Each book contains a sticker that ensures that borrowers know where to return it.
Working with the Parks and Recreation Department of the City of Otsego and her husband, Stemler was able to build three little libraries and place them by June 2012. Through the help of a Boy Scout troop working on an Eagle Scout project and others who wanted to get involved—like Christine Anderson, the LDS youth leader who organized the youth group donations—Stemler anticipates that she will be able to place a total of 16 Little Free Libraries by the end of this year.
All books in the Otsego libraries have been donated. Additional book donations can be made at Otsego City Hall, Three River's Fitness, Denny's Restaurant, Lighthouse Chiropractic. Individuals interested in being caretakers of one of the Otsego libraries can contact Amy at 612-867-8171.
Book donations from the LDS youth group will be distributed to library locations in Otsego, St. Michael, Rogers, Buffalo, Sartell and Alexandria. A map of local Little Free Libraries, and those all over the world, is available here.
“I felt sad letting those books for, but I felt good about it,” Lyndsey said, knowing that other readers will enjoy a similar love of them.
