Dr. Seuss
once said, “Fill your house with
books, in all the crannies and all the
nooks.” Now, people in the Washington metro area are taking that con-
cept one step further, filling their front yards with Little Free Libraries
of books for neighbors, friends and community members to enjoy.

“When I first offered to have the Little Free Library in my yard,
I didn’t anticipate it would grow into this little neighborhood
destination,” says Janet Jaworski. “I planted flowers, made a rock
garden and put some plastic Adirondack chairs around the library.

And Stephanie, who came up with the idea for the library, bought a
bench for the space. It’s become a little pocket park on the side of
my yard.”
The Little Free Library, which is in Jaworski’s yard in the Old
Lee Hills neighborhood of Fairfax, Virginia, was the brainchild of
Stephanie McCarthy and her four children.

“Every summer my kids and I create a bucket list,” explains
McCarthy, who knew Jaworski from the neighborhood. “Two
summers ago I suggested we do a lemonade stand to raise money for
a Little Free Library to put in our neighborhood. The community was
so generous, and the lemonade stand was a huge success.”
McCarthy and her kids took the money raised and bought a little
library, which they painted with colorful, cheery scenes of rainbows,
flowers, birds and a tree with a swing. Then, last April, McCarthy
teamed up with Jaworski, who offered to host the library in her yard.

The McCarthy family dug a huge hole with a postal digger, mounted
the library box on a fence post and the neighborhood’s Little Free
Library was open for business.

“The timing of this, which we didn’t plan, has been a nice
community thing for our neighborhood,” says McCarthy. “The
pandemic has been hard for everyone, including kids, parents and
schools, and having this library is a nice for our neighborhood. It’s
fun to walk by and take a book.”
McCarthy recently registered the library with the Little Free
Library organization, the world’s largest book-sharing movement.

Founded in 2009, the nonprofit organization “builds community,
Take a
BOOK, Leave a
BOOK d er
edlan i
r F
a iz
By Al
PROVIDED PHOTOS
Little Free Libraries
are popping up in
neighborhoods across
the DMV for readers of all
ages to enjoy.

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