Happy Reading Aldershot!

Check out the latest member of the Little Free Library family! This lovely LFL can be found on Church Lane East in Aldershot and is hosted by Park Church. The lovely LFL is opposite St Michael's Junior School and is set to be a great resource for the local children.

Headteacher of St Michael's, Steph Tyler, said, "Reading is such an important life skill that opens our minds to opportunities we might never otherwise explore.  I don't know where I would have been without books over the course of my life.  Sharing a book with young children is such an important aspect of child development and is the start of a journey which will hopefully stay with them for life."

Happy Reading Aldershot!!

London resident dedicates Little Free Library to the memory of her story telling mother

London resident Jane Farrell grew up listening to her mother's amazing stories, many of which came from her love of Greek myths and legends. When Jane's mom sadly died, she decided to share her love of stories and story telling by dedicating a Little Free Library to her mother.

Jane asked us to build and decorate the book sharing box and on Saturday 12th May we came along and installed this very special Little Free Library outside her home. Jane, pictured above, has spent many years as a school teacher and is hoping that the striking artwork will inspire young people in particular to stop by and pick up a book.

Jane is planning an official launch event in June (more details to follow) where her local community, family and friends will join her to help celebrate the opening of London's newest tiny library.

Don't look into Medusa's eyes!

Pegasus getting ready to take flight

Built by elves in the Little Free Library Project's magic workshop, we enlisted local artist Emma Scutt to add the artistic decoration to the Little Free Library.

Find out more about Little Free Libraries on our Facebook page. 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!

London's Little Free Libraries

We're building Little Free Libraries for communities all across the UK, but in today's post we share photos of some of our favourite Little Free Libraries from around the capital. Happy reading!

A TARDIS, some foxes and telephone boxes. Stop by, take a look and pick up a book. Great Portland Street Phone Box Little Free Library; Foxes in Wapping and Walthamstow; and a Little TARDIS Library, landing here, there and everywhere.

Investigating something new in the neighbourhood. Clapton, Hackney.

Johnny Rotten and Samuel Plimsoll came both from here, so we thought they should meet on the Prah Road Little Free Library, Finsbury Park.

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

Peacock inspired Little Free Library Holland Park.

Books in the playground at Heathmere School, Roehampton.

Read a book by the river in Wapping.

Roar! Red Lion Lane, Shooters Hill/Woolwich.

Lost in a book in Walthamstow Village.

Pick up a book on your way home from school in E17.

Magic Forest Little Free Library, Highams Park E4.

Happy reading in Wanstead.

Follow the white rabbit... to Walthamstow.

Share your stories & photos with us

If you're out and about and you pick up a book, send us your photos and we'll take a look.

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The Little Free Library map of Waltham Forest

We're installing Little Free Libraries in communities all over the UK. From Bradford in the north to Brighton in the south and lots of wonderful communities in between. One community in North East London (Walthamstow) has really embraced the Little Free Library movement and now has 25 LFLs in and around the area, the largest neighbourhood network in the UK.

The first one was installed on Garner Road in May 2014, with the most recent opening it's tiny door on Springfield Road on Monday 28th September. The map includes LFLs installed throughout the borough, including Leyton, Leytonstone and Highams Park. To celebrate this Little Free Library landmark, we've created a Waltham Forest Little Free Library map. Happy reading!



If you live in London and love to read books, why not take a tour. The LFLs are always brimming with books, but equally always need new donations too. Children's books are particularly welcome!

Special thanks to all of Waltham Forest's brilliant LFL hosts, all of the tremendously talented artists and all the groups, organisations and businesses that have helped fund this project. Find out more at www.lflproject.org 

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

Sparks fly as Hackney's latest Little Free Library is installed

Set to be officially opened on Saturday 26 September, our latest creation was yesterday welded into position at Daubeney Fields community garden opposite Clapton Park in Hackney.

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

Kickstart our school project and receive your very own Little Free Library

Heathmere Primary school doesn't have a school library at the moment. To help promote a love of reading at the school and provide a regular supply of engaging books, we've teamed up with 'Give a Book' to build a mini network of Little Free Libraries at Heathmere.

We've created a new Kickstarter project to help raise the funds for this much needed school project. We're asking you to support us if you can by pledging any amount starting at £1. However, if you, your community or an organisation you represent is willing to pledge £250, we'll build you your very own Little Free Library too.

Find out more by following the link to our project below:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1332488210/little-free-libraries-for-heathmere-primary-school

To give you some inspiration, here are a few of our recent Little Free Libraries. Happy reading!

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