A Pattern of Words

Little libraries are one of those things that I don’t remember ever truly noticing (or using) before I had kids. Upon moving to R, though, suddenly they were everywhere: painted in charming colors, bursting with any number of fun books, sometimes displaying “free to take” cut flowers from people’s gardens or half-used seed packets. On one memorable occasion, the boys even found a used Lego set! My kids absolutely refuse to walk by a Little Library without checking to see what interesting things it offers (and “interesting,” to my children, runs the gamut between gorgeously illustrated picture books and a doorstopper-thick adult novel about French brothels). I’ve learned that if I’m purging books I loath and my kids love (here’s looking at you, obnoxious baby board books and weird Christian cult-y books), I need to distribute them to further little libraries, otherwise they inevitably return right back home the next time my kids spot them. Especially if they’re placed in the Little Library that’s located right between us and their cousins’ house. Due to the high number of young families living in our neighborhood, there’s roughly one little library (sometimes more) per block. I’ve decided that if I have a little library, I’ll make it a puzzle swapping library. Although I’d worry that nobody else would be anywhere near as excited about that as me…