New bright green miniature houses have popped up around Litchfield in recent weeks in many of the city’s parks and recreation areas.
These little houses are the homes to books for pedestrians to pick up on their walks or children to bring home after playing at the park.
Unlike a traditional library, these books do not have a due date. They can be borrowed for as long as the reader wants or even to keep.
These little houses, called Little Free Libraries, are part of the Watercade Royalty’s service project.
“We have seen it throughout larger communities like St. Paul and Minneapolis that do it and we wanted to bring (little libraries) to a tiny community like Litchfield,” Miss Litchfield Karly Nelson said.
Eight Little Free Libraries are stationed throughout Litchfield at various parks and recreation areas.
“We paired the project with the summer reading program,” Princess Autumn Raiber said, “so that encourages kids to think, ‘Oh, the Royalty are into (reading) and, we want to be role models for them.”
“Especially since our community has increased our technology, but we don’t want to forget about reading and spending time doing that kind of stuff,” Raiber added. Her reference was to the Litchfield School District’s $3.2 million one-to-one technology initiative that bought students in grades sixth through 12th a Macbook, while students in grades first through fifth an iPad.
In the future the Watercade Royalty hopes to add park benches near the Little Free Libraries to encourage readers to indulge in their favorite books outside.
The Little Free Libraries will be taken down on the first day of school Sept. 6.
Copyright 2016 Litchfield Independent Review/Crow River Media/Media News Group.