You know those “leave a penny, take a penny” trays that are sometimes at delis, grocery stores, and as stations? It’s a small but kind gesture that can inspire a pay-it-forward mentality in people. In Germany, they’ve taken this gesture and made it even better with books; take a book, leave a book. Public bookshelves are popping up in numerous cities in Germany:
“In these free-for-all libraries, people can grab whatever they want to read, and leave behind anything they want for others. There’s no need to register, no due date, and you can take or give as many as you want.”
5 responses
Love this. 🙂
A version of this has already been going on here for at least a year, I think–it’s called The Little Free Library Project. It started in Madison, WI and has since spread across the country. Very cool idea…you can check it out at http://www.littlefreelibrary.org.
Thanks, Elen. I had never heard of the Little Free Library, it’s a great project.
What about the People’s Library at Occupy Wall Street?
Free libraries! Free people!
We have Bright Red Bookshelves for people to drop off and families to take gently used children’s books…in doctor’s offices, homeless shelters, grocery stores throughout our community in Ithaca, NY. A project of the Family Reading Partnership, a local literacy group whose fabulous ideas are worth spreading globally.
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