SOUTH FORK — There is a new Little Free Library, a place to take a book or share a book, in South Fork.  The Stadtlers, new residents since September 2020, have erected a book depository at 419 Aspen Drive in the Ponderosa subdivision. Little Free Library is a non-profit group that fosters a love for reading and sparked a movement for individuals, businesses, schools and coffee shops to provide a box for a free book exchange. 

Book sharing boxes provide 24/7 access to books, often in book deserts and underserved communities.

Holly Stadtler’s birthday in February, she asked her son and husband to build a box to start a Little Free Library, and now that the ground has thawed, it’s been installed.  It’s registered online with the Little Free Library non-profit so travelers, neighbors and anyone can search the website and take advantage of the free book exchange if they’re in the area.  Website viewers can find a free library from the 100,000 worldwide in over 100 countries. The box is filled with 14 books to start with and has already received an additional book.  Depending on the size of books, this box should hold about 30 books.  If you’d like to add to the collection or take a book, please drop by the box which is right by the road on Aspen Drive any time. (Please make sure any additions will fit inside the box rather than leaving outside or around the post, so they aren’t damaged by weather.)

Currently some of the books  in the little library include:  The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian, Ireland by Frank Delaney, Dog Songs a poetry collection by Mary Oliver, The Sweet Hereafter by Russell Banks, and The Last Child by John Hart, among others.

Today in the US alone, more than 36 million adults cannot read or write above a third-grade level, but studies show that books in the hands of children have a meaningful impact on improving literacy.  According to Little Free Library, two out of three children living in poverty have no books to call their own.  A Little Free Library box that caters to children (established by  Camp Chicka Chicka Boom Boom) can be found at Rickel Park on Park Drive in South Fork.

For more information about purchasing a box built by the Amish carpenters or learning how to build your own, or just more about where to find libraries, visit:  littlefreelibrary.org and to see our entry link type in zip code 81154 on this webpage  https://littlefreelibrary.org/ourmap/