We are excited to provide behind the scenes support to the Edgewater Book Nook project. Here’s more information about this exciting resident-led project!
Nine Edgewater residents erected Book Nooks to promote literacy and community building in our neighborhood! Six Book Nooks were set up in 2016 and three in 2017! Xerxes and Lilly Steirer and their children won the Summer 2017 Book Nook Design Contest and received a $150 gift card from Edgewater’s Ace Hardware. They will be setting up their Book Nook in the near future.
Ways You Can Participate
- Set up a Book Nook
- Donate or raise funds to cover the expenses of the book nooks
- Help dig and anchor the posts in the ground for a neighbor
- Donate books
- Take a book and share a book
Visit an Edgewater Book Nook
- Amy and Dan’s Book Nook (2459 Depew Street)
- Donaldson Book Nook (2425 Depew Street)
- Eyre’s Book Nook (2437 Eaton Street)
- Casuto’s Book Nook (2212 Fenton Street)
- Bollow’s Book Nook (2507 Fenton Street)
- Newton’s Book Nook (2483 Otis Court)
- Jones’ Book Nook (2530 Ingalls Street)
- Chandler’s Book Nook (2400 Marshall Street)
- Sanchez’s Book Nook (2486 Newland Street)
Installing a Book Nook in the City of Edgewater
- Before you dig, check with your utility company and be sure to stay away from your sprinkler system.
- Book Nooks must be located on private property and may not protrude, create a barrier or obstruct public right of way.
- Any signage on Book Nooks will contribute to total allowable signage.
- The City of Edgewater reviewed a generic design and guidelines for the Book Nook program. The City reserves the right to evaluate, comment and enforce code compliance on any and all Book Nook installations case by case if deemed necessary.
Origins of the Little Free Library
The Edgewater project will be modeled after the Little Free Library movement that was started by Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin in 2009. He built a tiny one-room schoolhouse to honor his mother who was a former teacher and was passionate about reading. He filled it with books and planted it in his yard with a sign that encouraged his neighbors to take a book and return a book. It has become an international movement led by a nonprofit organization. Their objective is to promote literacy and the love of reading by building free book exchanges worldwide and to build a sense of community. There are over 32,000 Little Free Library book exchanges around the world, with over one million books shared in local communities annually. Edgewater, let’s join this movement!
For more info, email Joel Newton.