Little Free Library #5403

Little Free Library #5403
1630 W Catalpa Avenue
Chicago, IL 60640
United States





This colorful Little Free Library is located in the Andersonville neighborhood on the North side of Chicago. It is located one block West of Ashland ave on Catalpa. It doesn't seem to appear on the official Little Free Library Map since they converted it to a new map. However, it is built in the Amish Barn Wood Cabin style LFL. It is small compared to some libraries with only one row of book space, but it has a very wide mix of book types in it. My last visit showed mostly adult fiction, though since this is a family friendly neighborhood children's books are welcome as well. There is a new addition since the top photo was taken of a mailbox lower on the post specifically for children's books. The last few times I have stopped by this was sadly empty.

The LFL's steward had the following to say about having the LFL on their property:

" We're almost finishing up our second year with the LFL on our front lawn, and honestly, it's been pretty uniformly an excellent experience. My husband was initially hesitant about the idea of putting this book drop on our front lawn, figuring it would be a burden that would attract riffraff who might subject it to destruction. He is first to admit that his fears have not borne out. Keeping the LFL in shape is now a family affair--the addition of a kids' annex last year brought the children even more into the sphere; we all have discovered many fantastic reads and have shared many of our own books there. The net result of all of this is that I just feel so much better connected--first and foremost to the block, of course (I had never in the previous decade of living here met such an incredible abundance of neighbors), but also to the neighborhood more broadly and its growing network of LFLs (including the "Edgewater Reads" initiative), as well as to a global network of readers and book exchangers."