We have been working on a special little project at our house recently, but I haven’t been able to post about it until now. My mother-in-law is an avid reader of the weekly blog, and I didn’t want to spoil the surprise. We are visiting the family cabin in Wisconsin this week and by the time this post is live, and she reads it; she will have received the gift already! (Thankfully—because it’s hard to keep a secret, especially when a 3-year-old is involved and excited about it as well.) The surprise is a homemade little free library, for those who are unfamiliar with the term, it’s a little cabinet that you have outside for the community to share books. Take a book, leave a book. The official mission statement for Little Free Library is: “to build community, inspire readers, and expand book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Libraries.” It is a great way to give a new home and new life to the pages you no longer plan to dive into. We have one right off the walking path around the water in our neighborhood and we love walking by to see if there are any new ones. We also love taking a little “trip” to drop some off that we don’t plan on reading again. I was excited to see a couple books by Elin Hilderbrand that I hadn’t read yet in there earlier this summer that I snagged. If you haven’t read any of her books, they are great summer reads. Never have I ever wanted to visit Nantucket during the summer more than after reading one of her novels. I can personally attest to The Perfect Couple and The Identicals. Okay, let’s get back on track here!

On one of our walks when my in-laws were in town earlier this summer, my son wanted to walk Nonnie by our neighborhood’s little library. (“Nonnie” is what all the grandkids call my MIL.) She had mentioned previously that she would love to have one at her house. Her own little free used bookstore right in front of her house! …Her dream would be to own a used bookstore but settling for a little free library because that is more realistic and less time consuming! I’ve known about her little library dreams for years and every time she mentions it, I think to myself how much I would love to gift her one! We both share a love for reading. However, if you have ever investigated buying your own, they are expensive! So, the thought has never made it past the idea stage—until now! We went to the library during their visit as well and wouldn’t you know it, one of the books we found was titled, The Little Library by Margaret McNamara and G. Brian Karas. Well, of course we had to read it as soon as we got home. It is a story about a little boy that doesn’t like library day at school quite as much as some of his classmates because he can’t find books he likes, and he thinks he takes too long to read. It was a great reminder to let children lead the way in terms of finding an interest and reading those types of books instead of what you always pick! The librarian helps him find books about building things and the boy ends up building a little library for his school to use during the summer when the school library isn’t open. My son loved it, but it is kind of long. If you are looking for a quick read with the kiddos, this one isn’t it. After reading it over, and over, anddd OVER, I learned to appreciate it. And because this book was the spark that turned into the inspiration for a meaningful gift, I guess I more than just appreciate it. It seems the universe really wanted this Free Little Library to happen!

So, I decided to do a little bit of Pinterest research and found a DIY version of a little library by purchasing a cabinet of off Facebook Marketplace and putting my husband to work! I was annoyed with myself that I hadn’t thought to do this before because my husband is great at bringing my ideas to life and he loves a project. I found a cabinet for $20 and the next phase of bringing this little library to fruition is all my husband and son. I really wanted Tucker to feel like a big part of the project so not only did he get to pick the paint colors and picked the book that inspired this whole thing, but we also watched a couple different YouTube video tutorials of people making their own little libraries and he was fascinated. A friend of mine gave me the idea to find videos online of either events you have coming up or something you are working on to show your kids. It is educational and informative and allows them to understand what is going on. It has been a great tool and time killer for those days when the weather isn’t nice enough to go outside! I’ve posted pictures at the bottom of the post to show the two of them working on it together. It was special watching them work together and knowing how much joy it was going to bring to my mother-in-law. Something incredible happens when you watch the man you love and your babies together—talk about turning into a puddle…heart officially melting. I can’t wait to share her reaction with you all and pictures of what it looks like set up outside their home. The gift that will keep on giving! Have a great weekend, everyone! Until next time—happy reading!

Do you have a little library at your house or in your neighborhood or was this the first-time hearing about one? Any DIY’s you’ve tried that you want to share with us? Let me know in the comments!

I will post a picture of the front with it set up in the ground on Facebook and Instagram so make sure you follow @authorkatiemarie to see the final reveal!

If you are looking to make your own Little Library or would like to register one you already have, you can visit www.littlefreelibrary.org. You can purchase plans to build your own, buy one already made or learn about fun ideas to implement on the website as well. I would suggest checking out Pinterest for cheaper alternatives. Searching YouTube for DIY video tutorials is a great resource as well.