Visiting the Little Library in Winhaven

Carson Valley is full of surprises including great biking opportunities for both seniors and youngsters throughout lovely, well-tended neighborhoods. Tooling around by bike, Winhaven in Minden affords a great activity in relative safety from busy traffic. The scenery is great. There is colorful and interesting architecture amidst well-crafted gardens and lawns. The parks with ponds in the center of the neighborhood allow for respite on a nice bench while viewing gaggles of geese, squirrels running on lush grass and little rabbits munching on it. Lots of birds pause in the many trees from their southern flight paths before winter rings in.

Notwithstanding all the beauty and the nice biking, in the distance there appears something rectangular and bright yellow beside the sidewalk. Coming into view, it resembles a tiny, tiny little wooden house on a post. Approaching closer, curiosity peaks, and the door latch is slowly opened. Inside are lots of great books – both hardback and paperback — for all ages plus magazines and a new word search activity book in large print to boot.

This is a “Little Free Library” and full of wonderful, free reading material passed down for others to enjoy and hold in their hands. It also allows for recycling which is really needed along our curbsides in our beloved Valley.

Curiosity yielded a search for the history of this “Little Free Library” idea. Seems it started in Wisconsin when a person put one in his front yard. The idea spread rapidly with the free exchange idea of “take a book, return a book.” That was in 2009. By the end of 2012, there were over 4,000 “Little Free Library” houses, and it was registered as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit according to a Google search.

By 2016, the “Little Free Library” idea had spread to every state and seventy foreign countries. The idea went global, and millions of books are shared each year throughout the world. What a wonderful idea.

So, if you are out and about the Valley, keep a lookout for these little house jewels. Pause and look inside. You will find a wealth of educational books for all ages and well as enjoyable novels and books solely for entertainment and reading pleasure. There is nothing like a good book.