What do you do with a 110-year-old dead tree that needs to be torn down? Most people would simply have the thing removed, but one Idaho woman had a better idea. Motivated by her passion for books, Sharalee Armitage Howard, a librarian, artist, and former bookbinder from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho transformed the dead tree stump in her front yard into a miniature free library for the neighborhood, which she shared on Facebook.
Armitage Howard’s tiny library is associated with the Little Free Library, a nonprofit organization that attempts to keep a love of books alive by making them more accessible in communities. The idea is to simply create an outpost full of books with an unwritten honor system that you read and return whatever you find there. At the time of writing, readers have established 75,000 tiny libraries across 88 countries thanks to the Little Free Library, but this is certainly one of the more creative and best made versions we’ve seen so far.
After her initial post went viral, Armitage Howard shared even more images of her personal library on Facebook, noting in the posts that, “It’s awesome to know that there are so many people out there that appreciate how art (in any form) quite simply, makes the world a cooler place to live in.” Though her library won’t be fully complete until this spring, it’s already looking great. We especially love the miniature wooden books that line the library’s roof and feature titles of classic novels like The Hobbit, Little Women, and Call of the Wild.
We love to see how Little Free Libraries has become such a phenomenon, keeping a love for books and the sharing of books alive in so many communities. Congrats to Sharalee Armitage Howard for her wonderful contribution.
Images: Martin Svden/Flickr
