The other day Mark came home for work and told me he had seen something from the window of his car while driving around and he wanted us to go explore it further. He said it was a little box filled with books outside of a house he passed and that it seemed that it was open to the public.
And indeed it was. Did you know about the 'Little Free Library' initiative? I didn't, but I am beyond excited. The concept, as it name says, is having small bookshelves with free access to books all over the world, on a "take one, leave one" premise. The movement started in the USA but it has soon spread everywhere. I am so excited to go on an urban search looking for more of these! Zarawitta and NLE I am looking at you and daring you too: there are two in Mexico, one in Mexico city and a second one in Guadalajara.
In The Netherlands there is a similar initiative called 'Minibieb' (Mini bibliotheek), you will find a bunch of these in children petting farms (kinderboerderijen). And there is even more. On one of our walks I found a book laying on top of a bench, forgotten, apparently. The boy hates it when I pick up, or even observe, dirty 'junk' that lays in the world. But I saw a children's book that had a sticker on it that read: "Neem me mee, lees me... en laat me weer zwerven" (Take me, read me and let me roam again). And so I took it. This time the idea of "sending your books on a trip and following their adventures", or Kinderzwerfboek, comes from the National Fund for Children (Nationaal fonds kinderhulp).This makes me so, so happy. I've ranted before on how it makes me sad that over here access to so-called public libraries is no longer free for everyone (only for those under 18) because of lack of subsidies.
This kind of social, independent reactions to the system is what really makes the world a different, friendlier place for everyone. Have you found any of this boxes of magic in your area?
Por aquí por el pueblo nunca lo he visto, pero cuando trabajaba en Amersfoort, camino a la oficina, había una pequeña estantería de vidrio donde habían libros y la gente podía tomar el que quisiera llevarse y podía dejar el que quisiera dejar.
ReplyDeleteYo que soy de botar/donar/vender todo lo que acumule polvo por falta de uso, me parece que es una super idea eso de tomar un libro, leerlo y reciclarlo para que otros tengan el gusto también!
Sí, me encanta lo de la re-circulación de los libros. Antes habia una iniciativa similar llamada "bookcrossing", pero estas bibliotecas en la calle tan monas y tan divertidas me gusta aún más- MArk es como tú, le encanta deshacerse de cosas, creo que una casa con la cama, la mesa y la calentadora de agua para el té sería ideal para él.
DeleteYeiii, genial, por supuesto que iremos a ver y a hacer algún intercambio, sobre todo estaría increíble que creciera la iniciativa. Me encantan las de las fotos enormes y llenas de colores. En cuanto logremos aparecernos por ahí te mandaré fotitos. :)
ReplyDeleteSí!!! Vayan y me cuentan!
DeleteYes, there was one in front of the school where I subbed at last school year. I never checked it out though because I assumed that since it was in front of a school that the books were for children. If I find another one I'll definitely check it out.
ReplyDeleteOh you should definitely check it out, so much fun. Or maybe find one near you in the map? I think in NY there must be quite a lot!
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