Happy National Book Lovers Day!

Here in the USA August 9 is National Book Lovers Day. Celebrate by diving into a good book or sharing a book with someone you know!

I have run across a few new little free libraries over the summer while riding around for errands and exercise. I haven't done any little free library spotlights in a while so I thought for National Book Lover's Day I could showcase a few of them.  If you are in the Evanston  or the Chicago area feel free to check it out and add some books :)

This Little Free Library is charter 40602. It is located in the Roger's Park neighborhood of Chicago. It has three shelves, one over sized that is perfect for children's picture books. It has a nice mix of children's and adults books inside.

 This little free library is charter number 29496. It is located in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago. It is at 7043 N. Glennwood which is also a play lot. The library is an old bookshelf that has been converted with a door and a roof and has four or five shelves of books that are a mix of books any family member would enjoy reading from kids to adults.

This Little Free Library is Charter number 39889. It is located at 1431 W. Fargo ave. In the Roger's Park neighborhood of Chicago. The stewards want their little free library to encourage children of all ages to enjoy reading and encourage people to drop off their favorite children's books. When I stopped by last it had a mix of children's and adult books. 

This Little Free Library is located on the Evanston/Skokie border. It is charter number 26956. It is located at 27 Williamsburg Terrace in Evanston, IL. When I stopped by it had a very healthy mix of fiction and non fiction for adults and children.

 This Little Free Library is charter number 36441 It is located in the middle of the toddler park located at 1125 Dewey in Evanston, IL. The story behind this Little Free Library is inspiring. The money for the library was raised over five years by a group of grandmother's in the neighborhood. It has two shelves inside that are filled with children's and young adult books.

This Little Free Library is charter number 32361. It is located at 813 Crain st. The two little cabinets that make up this little free library each hold two rows of books in them. Additionally, there is a nice stone bench next to the little free library perfect for sitting and browsing. I saw a good selection of books good for all age ranges in there, from child to adult.

I saw this little free library on my bike ride home from a job interview yesterday. It does not have an official little free library  charter plaque or charter number and does not show up on their map. However I thought that this stained glass fronted cabinet  with it's Book proclamation on the top  was super cute. The books inside of it when I stopped were mostly children's books with a bunch of classic Nancy Drew titles that made me smile as I devoured those as a kid.  This little free library sits at the base of the porch stairs at 1204 Noyes street in Evanston, IL. 


I will be spending national book lover's day listening to my audiobook copy of The luncheon of the Boating Party by Susan Vreeland.

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."

Little Free Library #13614

I have been in love with the idea of Little Free Libraries since I first read abut the movement. A few have popped up in the Chicagoland area(which includes suburbs). I thought that I would showcase some of the ones that I have visited over the last two years.

Little Free Library #13614

734 Wesley Ave

Evanston, IL

United States












This Little Free Library is also located in the southern portion of Evanston, IL. It is located between Oakton ave. and Main street on Wesley ave. It is a fairly large library which looks like a yellow house/ The front swings open and there are two shelves inside. The bottom shelf is dedicated to children's and young adult books and the upper shelf is adult books. On my last visit, both shelves were very full and there was a nice variety of books on offer.

This reminded me of a dolls house full of books. It made me smile as i rode up to it to drop books off on my way to class.

Little free Library #13597

I have been in love with the idea of Little Free Libraries since I first read abut the movement. A few have popped up in the Chicagoland area(which includes suburbs). I thought that I would showcase some of the ones that I have visited over the last two years.

Little Free Library #13597

1119 Oakton Street

Evanston, IL

United States

Little Free Library #13597 is located in south Evanston, IL. It is a small library composed of a 12" x 12" x 12" cube. It holds a variety of books most times. Because it is located across from an elementary school in a neighborhood with many families, the children's books seem to go faster than the adult books. I visit this LFL quite a bit as it's nearby and there is a fantastic variety of both children's and adults books being offered in it.



The stewards of the LFL said this about their library:

"While visiting Minneapolis, we saw many Little Libraries as we walked in the neighborhoods. Back in Evanston, we attended a fundraiser at the Evanston Rebuilding Exchange where many builders had built Little Libraries to be auctioned off. We were thrilled to be able to very quickly get a beautiful Library in our front yard. We have begun culling some of the many books in our own bookshelves but people add and subtract stock every week. It's great!"