Remember These?

We have a connection with the Friendly Park LFL which results in books going back and forth. There was a set of old school library books donated to Whitty-Storeys, I bet a few of us can remember these cards:

Kid Books

Hi Library friends:

Our collection of Kids books is dwindling.  I've noticed that many families are making the Whitty-Storeys library box a destination for evening and weekend walks.  We recently had the following comment in the library log:

"Passing by and had to stop.  This is the most beautiful little library we've ever seen."

Keep your eye out for bargain kids books, garage sales, sitting around in boxes, we'll take all sorts. Thanks again for your support and help.

Nice touch

Some library angels touched the back of the box.  Check it out, it's quite nice.

Words - Art

 It's been a hectic summer between work travel interspersed with some good ol' fun.  Here is a sampling of kind comments that have floated through the box and some art snipits as well.  I sent out a call for our second poem in the poetry box and had three suggestions which just happen to fit back to back on one sheet.  No blowing the secret here, you'll have to hit the box to see what poems have arrived.  S

Dreamy...

Mily approves

Kind Words

Kind Words II

Poetry Box

My friend Desmond recently shared one of Pablo Neruda's odes with me, namely his "Ode to the Book."  This poem was the perfect kick in the pants to get motivated to build a poetry box.  Like a little free library poetry boxes are all about sharing poetry that you enjoy with others.  One picks a poem, prints out some copies (I printed 20 of Neruda's) and when they're gone repeat the process.

I was talking with a neighbor last night and our plan is to have everyone contribute poems.  So once the Neruda Ode to the Book poems are gone it's another person's turn to pick, print and share a poem.  Make sense?  Another fun way to play with words.  We also put the magnetic poetry boards back up on the library box.  They're now located on the sides of the box so folks may see them a bit better.

Enjoy, Stephen

Summer Stuff

Wowza Yowza!  While we were off vacationing all sorts of things happened around the box.  First off we got stuffed.  Stuffed in a good way with an assortment of kids books from one of our new neighbors.  Thanks to Shadiin & Gabe for such cool kid additions to the collection.  Check out the lower shelf which is bursting with goodies:

We also had a bit of local press from the Register Guard. Randi Bjornstad emailed and asked to come visit. Her email coincided with our neighborhood library walk and Randi wrote an excellent piece featured in the Sunday Lifestyle section of the R-G on June 22nd. A very nice piece covering our library and others around town with a nice shout out to the national movement. So Summer's here and go find some books! Lots of fun stuff in the box, I actually pulled some books out and we had a twenty-five volume set of Harvard Classics donated to trickle out into the circulation. Find a beach, read a book, thanks to all for the fun times.

Stone Age Selfies?

Beachcomber?

Thanks Ezra!

  One of the cool beans aspect of running a book box is meeting neighbors like Ezra Tishman.  Ezra spotted the box one day, left a note and we soon met in person.  Ezra is the bookmeister, the mensch of Chambers Street, he is the Dude when it comes to giving books.  Ezra's the driving force behind the non-profit Gertie the Book Bus, and he also runs Ardvark Books which will track down and find whichever rare and unusual books satisfy your bibliophilic needs.

  Beyond these activites  Ezra has passed on numerous kids books to populate our lower shelf.  Frankly novels can sit in the box for awhile but kid books move through rapidly.  I was out at the box this weekend and heard a voice from up the street "Dad let's stop at the Library."  A family of four was headed down the hill and the young boys bounced off their bikes and across to the box.  These book gifts from Ezra will be excellent additions to engage the wee ones.

Tea Time

Hi friends & neighbors:

Come join us on Sunday afternoon June 1st @ 2pm to decorate the box.  We're planning on a painting and decoration event to spruce up the Whitty-Storeys library.  This will be a kid & family friendly get together.  If you have any extra kids books we can always use more.

Join us... a chance to enjoy the weather and say hello.   Bring snacky food & drinks, a picnic blanket and any creative talents to decorate.  Linda & I will also open up our garden for some flower therapy sessions.

See ya all next weekend.

Tea Time @ Whitty-Storeys Sunday June 1st @ 2pm

Finding Farley

  We had an interesting note and drop off of a book by Farley Mowat.  If you don't know Mowat one of two things apply 1) you're not a Canadian or 2) you just haven't gotten around to him.  Mowat is the Canadian story teller and Nova Scotian writer of renown on both sides of the 49th parallel.  What's somewhat unique about this little note is that today is also the day of Mr. Mowat's death.  I chuckle at this piece in the Globe & Mail describing him as:

"a ferocious imp with a silver pen, an ardent environmentalist who opened up the idea of the North to curious southerners, a public clown who hid his shyness behind flamboyant rum-swigging and kilt-flipping, and a passionate polemicist who blurred the lines between fiction and facts to dramatize his cause."

  If you aren't familiar with his writing try The Boat that Wouldn't Float, an engaging tale of sinking money and time into a leaky boat set in provincial Nova Scotia.  There's also a short movie called Finding Farley about a Canadian family's journey to meet Farley at the end of an epic canoe trip from Alberta to Nova Scotia.  Here's to Farley, his love of the woods, his call to preserve and his writings which will endure.  If you're quick there's a copy of The Snow Walker back in the box:

A note about The Snow Walker, by Farley Mowat

Book Crossings

  Recently a fellow bookie friend sent me a link to a piece in the Times about discovering a book cached in Paris.  I had thought it would be cool to figure out where the library box books travel to and it turns out that this is happening with Book Crossing.  Essentially you tag a book, set it somewhere for folks to find and then vicariously get to see where the book wanders off to. 

  Of course I couldn't resist printing off some labels and giving this concept a whirl.  I've picked a half dozen family and kid favorites that will go into the box.  Grandson Cedar and I are going to pick up copies of My Side of The Mountain and Where the Red Fern Grows and go stash them somewhere in town on one of our bike rides.  Fun Stuff!  Cheers...

P.S.  We're running low on YA & Kid's books

World Book Night

                           

Next Wednesday is World Book Night, (#WBN2014) an opportunity to share free books with light or non-readers.  I'll be joining Gertie the Book Bus out in the River Road neighborhood to give away copies of The Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen.  Drop by the Park if you're in the neighborhood and a couple copies of Pollen's book will certainly make it into the Whitty Storeys Little Free Library...   Cheers,  Stephen

Where:   Emerald Park Community Center

                1400 Lake Park Drive Eugene

When:  5-8pm, April 23^rd

What:  Free Books & Gertie the BookBus!

Book List:

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

Botany of Desire by Michael Pollen

Wild by Cheryl Strayed

Weird Sisters by Eleanor Brown

Presumed Innocent by Scott Turow

Sunrise over Fallujah by Walter Dean Myers

Ranger's Apprentice: Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Man Booker

Thanks to whomever is passing on the Man Booker books.  I just picked up The Sea by John Banville.

Shazaam Maam!

  Cool Beans.  Headed down to the box this am to discover sixteen new books.  Someone donated ten young adult titles and six adult books.  Fun Stuff... check 'em out:

Kid's books

Big People Books

Thanks EWEB

  After the ice storm many of us have been cleaning up a bit.  Fortunately for the library the oak above the box did not sustain any damage.  EWEB did loose some branches and trees on their lot and this week sent a crew through straightening up.  The tree crew thinned out the stressed trees along Whitten and trimmed the oak tree above the library.  Nice and tidy and ready for spring.

  An interesting and eclectic set of new books in the box:  The Elegant Universe by Brian Green (Physics & Universal Theory), The Jungle by Upton Sinclair (Food Safety), These is My Words, Nancy E. Turner (Historical Fiction), What is the What by Dave Eggers (so called Pseudo-Autobiography) and Baa Baa Black Sheep by Iza Trapani another kids book donation from the Friendly Park Library.

  Coming up:  I have some books to give away courtesy of World Book Night!

Full House

  We just had an excellent donation of twenty-four children's books!  Yes 24 New Kids books!  Yahooza.  With a steady stream of recent adult book additions we just passed the 500 book mark.  This is five hundred books that have been noticed going through the box, there are likely books that come and go completely incognito.  Well done book folks and such a cool book box.  The early readers and kids who drop by will certainly dig into these new reads.

Generous Kids Book Donation!

  There are a couple of notable books that are hanging out in the box.  If you haven't read any of Erik Larson's historical books give In the Garden of Beasts a read.  This brilliant book details the politics and intrigue surrounding the last US Ambassador to Germany before the outbreak of the second World War.  It's very readable history, worth reading and thought provoking about the American mindset leading up to WWII.

  Thanks to everyone reading and contributing to our neighborhood library.

This picture was before the new books showed up.

Bookstore Layover

  I was stuck @ PDX and spent a couple hours browsing through my favorite bookstore.  Powell's is such an eclectic gamish of new, used, unusual and oh so worthy books.    These quotes drew my eye.

SMILE Eugene

  This morning I sauntered down to the box to complete my post travel habit of checking out what's new in our little library.  As I walked up I noticed an officious looking typed page carefully wrapped in a plastic sheet protector and attached to the side of the box.  My first thought was "uh oh" we've had a complaint and the city's getting on our case.

  The notice started "Recently some neighbors have noticed unusual rocks mixed in the gravel at LFL 8481."  What is going on?  There's nothing wrong with this gravel, hey wait a minute what is that mixed in with the regular gravel the neighbors spread?  And just who put out this letter?

  Reading further the letter's mirth and sly manner was exposed.  Here's the full text for your own exegesis to make sure there's not something subtly nefarious at foot here.  Seriously it's great to be back in Eugene and see another spontaneous event around the box.

  Here's a quick review of a book I picked up from the Olive Street LFL: Finding George Orwell in Burma.  Did you know that George Orwell was actually a British Imperial policeman as a young man in Burma?  The connection from Orwell's young adult days, Burma (now Myanmar) and the protests of Aung San Suu Kyi is a fascinating memoir written by American journalist Emma Larkin.  Emma Larkin is actually a pseudonym and the writing is a detailed and enlightening account tying Orwell's life and writing to modern day events.  I'm almost finished and will pass this engaging read back to the box.  Cheers to All.

Read Books

  Today I woke up to a winter thunder and lightening display outside my window.  No I'm not in Oregon, although this is the final day of my visit to South Carolina.  My bags will soon be packed with a few books I collected at local little free libraries and a bevy of rich memories.

Reader Robot says...

  Along with rich family time getting to see two of my sons, their wives and grandson Neil, we managed to start and complete a new library.  The kid's at Buena Vista Elementary School in Greer, South Carolina now have a little free library to steward, enjoy and hopefully encourage them down the reading road.  Thanks to the efforts of Sean & Hayley Flanagan this creative project became reality.

New Years

  I'm on the road in the Carolinas visiting kids and enjoying grandson Neil.   Neil's a ways from joining the next generation of readers, but he has plenty of laps to nurture his love of story.   In fact he just happened to receive "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silversteen from his Auntie Lauren & Uncle Eli who joined us for the New Year's get together.

    Shel Silversteen was quite popular in my undergrad days and it's been a while since I've picked up one of his books.   The story, not dissimilar to so many great tales, is poignant and sad.   A child's love affair with a generous tree fades under adulthood's preoccupations.  There are so many great writers who remind us of how growing up seems to invariably press childhood out of our souls.

  And then one day you're a Grandpappy giggling with your adult kids and grandchild. And maybe you recall that magical tree you slept under, played hide and seek under, learned and grew up under, that tree which arched over your nascent days.  

  I love that our neighborhood book box is under a beautiful tree, that this is a giving place and that kids are discovering Whitty Storeys.

Blessings in the new year.

Stephen
W/S Library Steward