Royal Holloway University set to launch Little Free Libraries

Royal Holloway University boasts one of the most beautiful campuses in the world. Founder's Building welcomes visitors as they enter and tree lined paths connect academic and social spaces where students from all over the world come to study.

Founder's Building, Royal Holloway University

This month (January 2017) we delivered four Little Free Libraries, which were funded by the university. Two LFLs will be installed on campus and two donated to partners within the community, including a local school.

The LFLs will be artfully decorated by students and Alumni and then filled with books to be shared across campus. With students from all over the world studying at the university, there is sure to be an international mix of titles being exchanged, shared, and read amongst the leafy surroundings of Royal Holloway.

Happy Reading!

Two more Little Free Libraries for Essex village

Over the past couple of years we've worked in partnership with Thundersley Congregational Church to create a network of Little Free Libraries for the local community to share their love of reading.

They have proved to be a great success! Two more have recently been created and will be installed in September in the run up to the Noise Arts Festival. The brilliant designs are by our artist Kiko Honda Powell.

"The Essex Little Free Libraries have been really popular, it's great to see two more being added to the network." Nick Cheshire, Director, Little Free Library Project UK.

Happy reading Thundersley!

The existing Little Free Libraries can be found at a range of Thundersley locations including Kingston Primary School, Thundersley Congregational Church and even the local swimming pool!

The swimming pool Little Free Library by artist Emma Russell

Happy reading Thundersley!

Parklife: sharing books with London communities

This month we've been busy installing Little Free Libraries in the places where communities congregate and children play: in or near some of London's parks. 

We worked with artist Hannah Adamaszek to create this peacock themed Little Free Library, taking inspiration from the beautiful birds that roam freely throughout Holland Park. Opposite the entrance to Holland Park on Abbotsbury Road.

Inside Finsbury Park, this Little Free Library was decorated in partnership with the Finsbury Park Arts Club and is covered with inspiring literary quotes to encourage passersby to stop and

pick up a book.

The second of our Finsbury Park Little Free Libraries can be found close by on Prah Road and depicts former local residents Samuel Plimsoll and Johnny Rotten.

Located outside International Students House (ISH) on Great Portland Street near the Euston Road entrance to Regents Park. A full size phone box replica full of books. Built in partnership with ISH.

Happy reading!

Just installed with decoration by East London artist Gabriela Castellanos, this garden themed Little Free Library is already getting some attention.

Located at the Daubeney Fields Community Garden opposite Clapton Park,

"If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need." Cicero.

Happy reading!

Little Free Library UK

The Little TARDIS Library has landed

At around 9.30am Greenwich Mean Time on Sunday 6 September a Little TARDIS Library landed in the UK on Brighton beach. Following an investigation of the library's memory circuit we discovered that it had returned to our dimension after journeying through all the worlds of literature. From Lilliput and Narnia to Middle Earth and Wonderland, the Little TARDIS Library has explored all of literature's fantasy worlds and filled it's small shelves with the many stories told at each location.

The Little TARDIS Library will now embark on a tour of the UK sharing stories with children and young people to help promote their love of reading. Stocked with hundreds of classic books (because the Little TARDIS Library is bigger on the inside) it will be landing in schools, libraries and parks across the UK.

The Little TARDIS Library is an official Little Free Library built and created by Little Free Library Project UK, a registered educational charity.

Here are just some of the wonderful books that the Little TARDIS Library will be bringing to you:

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll

The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett

Winnie the Pooh, A.A. Milne

The Phantom Tollbooth, Norton Juster

The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien

Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson

Peter Pan, J.M. Barrie

The Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling

The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Roald Dahl

Black Beauty, Anna Sewel

Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck

The Adventures of the Wishing Chair, Enid Blyton

To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee

Charlotte's Web, E.B. White

The Suitcase Kid, Jacqueline Wilson

The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

Cinderella, Charles Perrault

The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

The Snail and the Whale, Julia Donaldson

A collection of Oscar Wilde titles

A collection of Charles Dickens titles

A collection of Shakespeare's plays

Find out more about the Little TARDIS Library and how to arrange a visit to your school or community by contacting us at contact@littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk. You can also follow @TARDIS_LFL on twitter to keep up with our adventures. Happy reading!

Swindon's first Little Free Library

Every Little Free Library is completely unique and Swindon's first is no different. We were lucky enough to work with the supremely talented Lynette Thomas of Artkore Mosaics, who has created a stunning artwork that will be on show, and offering free books to the community, outside Savernake Street Social Hall in Swindon's Old Town.

The project has been created in partnership with the Eastcott Community Organisation who run a range of community events at the Savernake Street venue including a Free Shop and a regular reading group. Find out more about upcoming events here. The LFL was made possible by a grant from Swindon Borough Council.

The Little Free book exchange was launched on Sunday 12 July at the communty's Big Lunch and Neighbourhood Party event and people began to take and donate books straight away.

The intricate mosaic art makes use of recycled pottery and china including cups, plates and even old teapots, which are broken into colourful pieces of varying size to create the beautiful design. As far as we know its the first ceramic mosaic Little Free Library in the world and will take pride of place on the Little Free Library world map in due course.

"This is the first, but we're hoping to create many more Little Free Libraries in Swindon and the South West of England." said Nick Cheshire, Director of Little Free Library UK. There are currently two Little Free Libraries in Bath and one set to open in Torbay later this summer with work underway for a Bristol project too.

"I have really enjoyed creating the Little Free Library mosaic." said artist Thomas. The hosts agreed on a nature theme and Thomas did the rest. Stunning!

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

Books in the playground

Books open us up to a world of imagination, but before a child chooses to pick up, open and read a book, they need to be inspired to do so. If books are fuel for the imagination, then the places where the books reside must inspire us too.

As part of a new national project we're installing unique and engaging Little Free Libraries in schools, more specifically in the school playgrounds, where children play. The scheme encourages children to take books as well as share their favourite stories with one another too.

Children at Priory Infants School at the launch of their Little Free Library

Each Little Free Library is decorated with an engaging artistic design, in many cases based on ideas suggested by children during school workshops.

Illustrator and author Polly Dunbar with students at Priory Infants School

We work with a wide range of professional artists and illustrators, who not only decorate our Little Free Libraries, but also come into schools with us to conduct art workshops. We also host community events outside school aimed at encouraging children's interest in art. Below, an aspiring artist at a recent event at Higham Hill Hub in North East London. Artist Kiko Honda-Powell created mini LFL templates for budding designers to create their own Little Free Libraries.

"I've designed a Little Library!"

Teachers and literacy leads at the schools we have worked with tell us that they are keen to use every possible resource available to promote reading in their schools and at home. By supplementing school libraries with Little Free Libraries, children have even more access to books and in less conventional settings.

"Having Little Free Libraries at School, where children can choose a book to keep and perhaps return one with a recommendation, will make a huge difference." said Deputy Head Ben Cooper from Heathmere Primary School in South West London.

We also work with partners such as publishers and other charities such as Give a Book to access high quality books to stock our Little Free Libraries.

Illustrator and author Gary Northfield with children at Heathmere Primary School

In a recent report Save the Children outlined four key drivers to help ensure children are able to read well:

1. Celebrating the enjoyment of reading in communities;
2. Supporting children to develop good early language skills before starting school;
3. Providing the right support to primary schools; and
4. Supporting mothers and fathers to help their children's reading.

Little Free Libraries, as part of an overall strategy, are able to support the achievement of each of these four goals, providing an excellent tool to teachers, parents and communities to help promote a love of reading.

Our Books in the Playground project offers teachers and educators an additional tool to help promote reading in school, while our community projects are installing Little Free Libraries in front gardens, parks and other community spaces where children and their parents can access free books all day, everyday.

For more information about this project or about our other community projects please email us at contact@littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk.

Happy reading!

Photos from Priory Infants School Little Free Library launch.

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

Little Free Libraries: supporting communities and schools to engage children with reading

All of the evidence suggests and involved professionals agree that reading is one of the most important factors in helping children reach their full potential.

In a recent report Save the Children outlined four key drivers to help ensure children are able to read well:

1. Celebrating the enjoyment of reading in communities;
2. Supporting children to develop good early language skills before starting school;
3. Providing the right support to primary schools; and
4. Supporting mothers and fathers to help their children's reading.

Little Free Libraries, as part of an overall strategy, are able to support the achievement of each of these four goals, providing an excellent tool to teachers, parents and communities to help promote a love of reading.

At Little Free Library Project UK we are working across the country with communities and schools to help engage children with reading. Clearly what our Little Free Libraries offer is just a small part of the solution. The fantastic work of public libraries, teachers, parents and third sector organisations all works in unison to help promote the love of reading to children and young people.

Our Little Free Libraries are now installed at several primary schools across the UK and the feedback from teachers, parents and children has been overwhelmingly positive.

On 26 March 2015 we installed a new Little Free Library at Heathmere Primary School in Roehampton, London. The school is located at the centre of the Alton estate. As soon as it was installed, and as the school day came to an end, children and parents stopped by to take a look and pick up a book. We asked the Deputy Head, Ben Cooper, why he thought Little Free Libraries could help at Heathmere:

"At Heathmere Primary School, we are passionate about reading.  We want to give our children every possible opportunity to pick up a book, open a page and get lost in a story. Developing a love of books and encouraging children to read for pleasure is at the heart of everything we do.  We are setting up a library in school, investing in the books children have in class and inviting authors in to school to talk to the children – anything and everything that helps children to read.

As part of this, we want to set up Little Free Libraries in the school grounds. The school is in an area of high deprivation - we know that lots of our children don't have access to many books at home.  Having a Little Free Library, where children can choose a book to keep and perhaps return one with a recommendation, will make a huge difference."

Last year we installed several Little Free Libraries at schools in London and Essex, including Frederick Bremer School, Kingston Primary and Thundersley Primary and earlier this year installed four Little Free Libraries at Bearwood Primary School in Birmingham. Next month Priory Infants School in Ramsgate and Chapel End Infants School in Walthamstow will open their new Little Free Libraries.

The Little Free Library at Frederick Bremer School has now been in place for several months. We spoke to English teacher of 23 years, Kate Kelly, to get her feedback on the school's LFL. Here is what she had to say:

"As an English teacher with a passion for improving children's literacy and fostering within them a life long love of books and all they can offer, Little Free Libraries offer an innovative and unique way of promoting reading for pleasure in schools and in our communities."

As part of the Frederick Bremer project we went in to the school to meet year 7 students and involved them directly in the artwork for their Little Free Library. "Getting the children involved in designing the Little Free Library helps give them ownership of the project and they have lots of fun too!" says Little Free Library Project UK director Nick Cheshire.

Being able to access a Little Free Library at school and then finding one outside school in the community helps to create a connection between school and home life. They encourage children and young people to take books home to read, but also help promote the joy of sharing by enabling them to put books into the LFLs too.

Over the course of the next year Little Free Library Project UK will be installing LFLs in many more schools across the country. If you are a teacher or parent and would like to find out more about getting a Little Free Library at your school please contact our director Nick Cheshire or see our website for more details.

Gallery:

Save the Children report: 'Read on, Get on.' September 2014

Young readers in Birmingham take delivery of their Little Free Libraries

Young readers at Bearwood Primary School in Birmingham quickly start making use of their new Little Free Libraries.

Funded by the Siobhan Dowd Trust, we have created four colourful LFLs especially for children at this wonderful primary school in Birmingham.

Bearwood Primary School is the fourth school in the UK to host a Little Free Library and the first in Birmingham. Three of the Little Free Libraries will provide books just for kids, but one will also contain books for older readers (including parents) when it is installed a local community cafe.

The Siobhan Dowd Trust have funded the project and will also be supplying a wide selection of books for these enthusiastic young students. "We are very grateful to the wonderful Siobhan Dowd Trust and pleased to have worked with them to create this new network of Little Free Libraries in Birmingham." said Nick Cheshire, Director of Little Free Library Project UK.

Happy reading!

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

A new network of Little Free Libraries for Bradford

Little Free Library Project UK are working in partnership with Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw together with local community organisations, artists and businesses to deliver a network of Little Free Libraries for Bradford. The project is currently in the planning stages, but we are looking forward to launching this exciting new project.

We spoke to Councillor Ross-Shaw who told us why he is so passionate about the project:

"The Little Free Libraries project has sparked the imaginations of people around the world and in Bradford it's been no different. Encouraging people, and children in particular, not just to read but to share books with others is something everyone's getting behind.

There's a big drive in Bradford to improve our literacy rates for children and adults and it would be great to play a little part in that by making it easier for people to access books and develop a love of reading. The fact that Little Free Libraries can be public works of art in the middle of communities makes them extra special.”

We'll be announcing more details soon.

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

Islington's first Little Free Library

We are installing a network of Little Free Libraries in the London Borough of Islington. The first of these has now been installed in Finsbury Park.

Located on Prah Road near Plimsoll and Blackstock Roads, the Little Free Library was decorated by local artist Teresa Robertson. Above you can see Samuel Plimsoll in conversation with Johnny Rotten, who were both born in the area, though a few years apart!

Below a footballer can be seen reading a copy of Nick Hornby's Fever Pitch. The LFL is hosted by the Flood family, who act as Little Free Library stewards with the support of their neighbours in this community spirited area of North London.

Coming soon to London SE18

We'll be installing this roaring Little Free Library on Red Lion Lane near Woolwich in early October.

To find out more about where and when we're installing our Little Free Libraries around the UK, please visit our website: www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk.

Do Nice, Be Kind, Spread Happy at a Little Free Library

On Saturday 26 July the wonderful Bernadette Russell will be signing copies of her inspiring book, Do Nice, Be Kind, Spread Happy at a Little Free Library in Walthamstow, London.

The book pictured above is jam packed with awesome activities for spreading joy and kindness throughout the land. Are you sneaky enough to pull off a reverse robbery, by sliding a treat into someones bag or pocket? Have you got the guts to undertake a serious smile collection mission, and smile at every stranger you see all day long?

Bernadette Russell is a writer, performer and comedian, who in response to the 2011 riots, decided to try and do a kind thing for a stranger every single day for 366 days (it was a leap year). This endeavour went on to become a theatre show (Birmingham Rep and tour), two interactive installations and an exhibition.

The best part is that after the year was up she carried on being kind every day because she discovered that it changed her life for the better. Maybe it could change your life too, give it a try!

Do Nice, Be Kind, Spread Happy is an activity book based on this experience, for big kids and small kids to have fun being nice. There are 80 ideas for being kind and putting a smile on somebody's face, which we think is brilliant.

Here's Eve (aged 9) taking some inspiration from the book and leaving a copy for someone to find at Birmingham library:

We asked Bernadette what she thinks about our Little Free Libraries.

"I love the Little Free Libraries! One of my favourite acts of kindness was leaving books that I had read and loved around and about for people to find, I always wrote a message inside the book (like Dear Stranger, I loved this book, hope you do too. Love Bernadette). I wish I'd known about the Little Free Libraries when I'd started out as it would have been the perfect place to leave them!"

Thanks Bernadette Russell. You're awesome!

So, if you would like to meet Bernadette and hear her talk about the power of kindness and pick up a copy of her wonderful book, come visit the Little Free Library at 45 Brettenham Road in Walthamstow on 26 July at 1pm. You will certainly leave the event feeling happy and inspired!

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

Leyton's Little Free Library arrives with it's artist

Artist Kiko Honda-Powell took delivery of the Leyton Little Free Library today. She has plans to decorate the LFL with a theme inspired by nature. Sorry we can't give away more than that! However, you won't have to wait too long too see the finished article when it is installed in Leyton in mid July.

Kiko has worked with us before. She added her striking designs to the Little Free Library we created for London charity Eat or Heat, see below.

Kiko studied architectural and interior design in Osaka, Japan. She now lives in London with her husband and two children.

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

A Little Free Library for Frederick Bremer School

We're very pleased to announce that we will be building a unique Little Free Library in partnership with the fantastic students at Frederick Bremer School in Walthamstow, North East London.

We've teamed up with the outstanding students and teachers at Frederick Bremer School to design a Little Free Library just for kids, to share their books with one another on campus.

We visited the school recently to talk to year 7 students about their favourite books, the love of reading and our Little Free Library Project. We were so impressed with the literary knowledge of the kids we met. When asked how many Shakespeare plays they could name, we had to give up counting when they passed 10!

We showed the kids one of our Little Free Libraries and asked them if they liked the idea of sharing books with each other. Suffice to say the answer was a resounding YES! As a consequence we have agreed to build a very special Little Free Library designed by the Frederick Bremer School students, with support from their wonderful English and Art teachers.

Above, some of our Little Free Libraries before they are decorated and below after our amazing artists have added their eye-catching designs.

On 8 July we will be attending the 'Reading is Fundamental' launch event at Frederick Bremer School where we'll be talking more about the project and the tremendous value reading books can have. We love books!

Over the summer holidays our magic workshop in Sussex will build a unique Little Free Library for the school, which will then be decorated with designs inspired by the students. Before the beginning of the new school term, the finished library will be installed in the foyer of the school for students, parents and visitors to see. It will then be available for all of the school's students to share their books with one another.

We've also launched a fundraising campaign on Kickstarter to help fund the project. We're a non-profit organisation that builds and installs Little Free Libraries in the UK to promote reading, literacy and art. Please support if you can - thanks! 

Promoting reading, literacy and art in the UK

The largest network of Little Free Libraries in the UK

Little Free Library Project UK has built and installed the largest network of Little Free Libraries in the UK and there are many more on the way. Here are just a few of the striking designs that we've created.

"We work with a wonderful range of talented artists to create our eye-catching Little Free Libraries." says Nick Cheshire, Director of Operations. "We want to stop people in their tracks and entice them to take a book." says Cheshire.

The organisation's aims are to promote reading, literacy and art in the UK. The LFLs are aimed at encouraging people of all ages to pick up a book, but the colourful designs are particularly appealing to younger readers.

Little Free Library Project will be installing new little libraries in areas including Acton, Finsbury Park, Woolwich, Leyton, Wanstead and Mitcham this summer with plans to add further locations in the Midlands later this year.

The Little Free Libraries are hosted in residential gardens, cafes and community spaces where everyone in the communities in which they are located can access free books anytime. If you would like to find out more about hosting a Little Free Library or becoming a Little Free Library artist, please get in touch by contacting the the organisation here.

You can also find out more on their website.

How kids in East London helped create a Little Free Library

My name is Kate Westbrook and I run a start up company called The Climbing Frame which develops and runs creative projects with children in East London. I saw the Little Free Library Project (LFL Project) online and thought it would be lovely if the kids that I work with at The Climbing Frame could take part in some way.

I contacted Nick Cheshire, the Project Manager for the organisation and he thought it was a great idea to involve children in the design of a Little Free Library.

Working with a group of 5-9 year olds at The Mill on Coppermill Lane in Walthamstow, we decided to take our inspiration from lots of lovely fresh fruit and made bright graphic collages with coloured paper. There were grapes, strawberries, apples, pears, grapefruits, oranges, bananas and even a big spiky pineapple! During our making session, the kids were free to eat the fruity still life subjects - the strawberries disappeared particularly quickly!

I then took photos of their wonderful designs and painted them onto a special Little Free Library that the LFL Project had built for us. The kids' designs were so vibrant and graphic, they looked brilliant plastered all over the Little Library. One of the things that made this Little Library so special was that it was built especially for children and specifically smaller than all the other Little Libraries. In fact, I was told that it is the smallest Little Free Library ever made.

The Little Free Library is now installed in a special children's area at a family friendly pub in Walthamstow called the William Morris Bar. They have a special club just for kids called the Morris Minors and teach language classes to children at weekends as well as hosting the world's littlest Little Free Library full of inspiring kids books.

By Kate Westbrook, Founder of the Climbing Frame and Art teacher.

www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk

Tweet