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!!

TARDIS Little Free Library materialises in East London

Our latest creation has landed in a Kids' Park in East London. Made from FSC certified timber and finished in, well TARDIS blue!

It has a shelf for kids books and another for everyone else. We came up to London on 1st December to install it in Bisterne Avenue Park. It was commissioned by Caramel Quin, who will be acting as the resident Little Free Library steward. Come by and pick up a book!

Caramel and friends got into the festive spirit to celebrate the opening of their new TARDIS Little Free Library. It's sure to be a great asset to the local community, in Walthamstow, where it joins the UK's largest neighbourhood network of LFLs.

Happy reading!


By Nick Cheshire
Director
Little Free Library Project UK
littlefreelibraryproject@mail.com

The TARDIS has landed at Abbey School

Having travelled through all the worlds of literature collecting stories, the Little TARDIS Library has finally materialised and come to rest at Abbey School in Torquay. Filled with over 100 books for children of all ages, the TARDIS invites Abbey School's students to take, read and exchange books with their friends.

We stopped by Abbey School's daily assembly today to officially open the Little TARDIS Library. Children's book illustrator, Lauren Tobia, cut the ribbon and opened up the book exchange to the excited faces of Abbey's pupils. Lauren also read from one of her books and donated several signed copies.

We can't be sure how long the TARDIS will be here for before it vanishes on another adventure, but for now it appears to be here to stay. Happy reading Abbey School!

To find out more about Little Free Library UK please visit our website here.

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!

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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!

Central London's first Little Free Library

To help celebrate their 50th anniversary, International Students House (ISH) has worked in partnership with us at Little Free Library Project to create central London's first Little Free Library.

A full scale replica phone box, full of brilliant books, was officially opened on 14 May by author John Rogers. John's book, This Other London: Adventures in the overlooked city, tells the story of John's journey to discover some of the more overlooked and unusual aspects of our wonderful international city, like our latest Little Free Library.

Central London's first Little Free Library is located outside International Students House at 229 Great Portland Street, London (opposite Great Portland Street tube station).

Little Free Libraries take many forms, from small house shaped boxes with various artistic designs to phone boxes and even a TARDIS. They are installed in front gardens, cafes, pubs and community spaces and of course, now, outside International Students House. Here are a few of our other Little Free Libraries.

Walthamstow, art by cartoonist Tim Reedy

Hackney, art by urban artist Hannah Adamaszek

Woolwich, art by illustrator Emma Russell

Find out more at www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk. Happy reading!

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.

The Little Free Library at Clissold Park

The Stoke Newington Little Free Library will be installed inside the Grade II listed Clissold House in the heart of Clissold Park. Throughout the year the park, the house and the cafe are brimming with children and families enjoying the wonderful sights, sounds and facilities this beautiful green space has to offer.

Clissold House (originally named Paradise House) has a fascinating history involving the change of name which arose out of a love story that would probably make a great book. William Crawshay, who bought the house in the early 1800's forbade his daughter Eliza from marrying her beloved, the curate from across the park at St Mary's. Unable to be together, they were forced to wait for many years, until William died, before they could be married. Eliza then inherited the house and married her love, the Reverend Augustus Clissold, hence the name.

For more information about this or any of our Little Free Libraries please visit our website www.littlefreelibraryproject.org.uk.

History of Clissold House sourced from the Londonphile.