A family, residing in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho came up with a brilliant idea of transforming a 110-year old tree into a library for the neighborhood. It has been named as ‘Little Free Library.’
How many of you have heard the phrase or read it; books are our best friends? In this age of hand-held devices, an increasingly large number of people are resorting to the online or electronic reading. However, nothing compares to the unique experience of holding an actual book in your hands. It allows the readers to smell the pages, feel the weight of the book, and immerse themselves into the act of reading.
Coming back to the Little Free Library; the tree would have otherwise been cut down, but now all of the neighborhood can benefit from a little bit of extra reading that this wonderful place will provide. The Little Free Library is a non-profit organization that is focused on inspiring people to retain their love for reading and nourish it by sharing books with the world. The organization has already provided over 75,000 libraries in 88 countries so far. The stats speak of the commitment that Little Free Library has made to the books and reading.
The woman behind the conversion of the tree into a library is Sharalee Armitage Howard. Sharalee is a former bookbinder, librarian, and artist. She says, ‘Someone willing to take the time to give new life to a stump would never cut down a healthy tree to do it. It was dropping HUGE branches for years onto the sidewalk and street (even without windy weather). We were really worried about someone getting hurt. One finally hit our son’s car.’
The library is made with a hollowed-out tree as the roof and features exterior lighting. Saralee wrote on Facebook saying, ‘OK, this project isn’t quite finished… but I can’t wait to share it. We had to remove a huge tree that was over 110 years old, so I decided to turn it into a little free library (which I’ve always wanted). Here it is (minus some cleanup, vegetation, and trim work)!’
What do you think of this amazing project? Do share your feedback with us!
