Welcome to Poetry Friday. Our host on this first week of November is Mary Lee Hahn HERE. Thank you Mary Lee! Be sure to stop by and see what she’s sharing this week.
Today, I read a pile of picture books at my local bookstore and would like to share one by a writer who is passionate about kids and books, Miranda Paul. She is one of the founders of the WNDB movement. Her book, LITTLE LIBRARIES, BIG HEROES, Illustrated by John Parra, is a book worth adding to your library. I have. It’s not just about little libraries. It’s also about following a passion, growing an idea, generosity and public service all in one. This book is for everyone.
Several weeks ago I wrote wrote about my hometown Carnegie Library Here. But one doesn’t have to have 350 million dollars to build thousands of libraries. In LITTLE LIBRARIES: BIG HEROES, we learn that some libraries can be built for much, much less and still make a big impact.
In this true story, a young man named Todd, an “ordinary guy” who had been inspired by his mom to love books, built the first little library, like the one above. Neighbors loved it. It caught on. He told his friend about it.
Todd felt his nifty box of books had potential. He called up his friend Rick, who was always chock-full of grand ideas.
Rick thought that they could
build thousands of little boxes!
Like Andrew Carnegie,
who once built 2,510 libraries!
They could take trips!
Like Lutie Stearns, who brought
traveling libraries all over Wisconsin!
Rick liked the idea, but . . .
WAIT A MINUTE!
Andrew Carnegie had been a
wealthy businessman. Lutie Stearns
was a trained librarian. The two of
them were just ORDINARY guys.
(And they were particularly low
on cash.)
How man libraries could two
ORDINARY guys create?
How far could ORDINARY people
spread an idea?
They agreed on one thing--
they wanted to find out.
So the two “ordinary” young men decided to explore their dream of creating a Little Library movement. This is their story. The result: as of 2019, there were 75,000 official, registered Little Free Libraries in eighty-eight countries.
I was touched by this book about ordinary people doing extraordinary things and making a difference. It’s an important story.
Before I close I’ll turn your attention to the changing weather and the holidays looming with three seasonal haiku:
November winds howl. Leaves rattle and acorns roll, but winter still comes. Holiday darlings. Butternuts roast in ovens. Hubbard waits its turn. Christmas Spirit hides behind Thanksgiving's turkey, practicing carols. © Janice Scully 2021
Thank you, Mary Lee, for hosting today!
Dear Janice, I love “holiday darlings”! And Little Free Libraries too… have thought of putting one up just because they are so darn cute! (Our very small 400 person community has a great library already, so unlikely people would use one on our road. But who knows??) Thank you for sharing! xo
I loved learning the history behind Free Little Libraries. I’d put one in our yard if there wasn’t already one down the street and another two blocks over. I regularly help keep them stocked!
Your trio of haiku are all kinds of perfect. Your “Holiday darlings” are yummy, and I love the way Christmas Spirit is hiding behind Thanksgiving (at least in your poem, if not in the stores where Halloween is on sale and Thanksgiving hides on random endcaps as retail Christmas takes over every aisle and all the decorations).
I love this book & other books about those who bring books to unlikely places, too. Our HOA just put up one for our neighborhood, very fun! One of our bookstore volunteers takes books from us & places them in little free libraries all over town! And I love your trio, though we haven’t had winds howling, yet! They will come, I know. And I love that end one, “Christmas Spirit hides /behind Thanksgiving’s turkey,” Indeed! Happy November, Janice!
Little Libraries make a BIG difference everywhere! Thanks for shining the spotlight on Miranda Paul’s book and these community resources, Janice. I especially love your haiku – the image of Christmas Spirit peeking out from behind a turkey makes me smile. 🙂
Janice, our community has a special section in our clubhouse for a little library and I am so glad that people are bringing in books and picking up new reads. Thanks for always sharing such interesting research. I love your trio of holiday haikus. The turkey/Christmas spirit haiku is delightful. With your permission, I will share your image and trio of poems at my Bedecked In Autumn Gallery. Let me know because I already captured your work.
I’d love that! Thanks, Carol!
Oh, Yes I DO need this book. Thank you for showcasing it today. How wonderful. I got a chance to meet Miranda Paul several years ago with her author husband and beautiful children. I had no idea at that time what a fan I would become. I love how she’s spending her talents in this world. What a lady. Now, off to get my hands on a copy of that book!
Thanks for spotlighting Paul’s book — haven’t seen it yet but have heard such wonderful things about it. Of course I love Little Free Libraries and how it’s caught on around the world.
Also love your autumn haiku — each a sprightly nugget of goodness. Made me smile :).
Cool new book! And those last two stanzas of your poem are fantastic, “practicing carols”!
So much fun!