This gem of a story is from the Washington Post linked here. Sorry if link doesn’t work, my subscription runs out soon.
Sharalee Armitage Howard from Coeur d’Alene Idaho had an old cottonwood tree in the front yard. It was getting sicker and sicker each year. She loved the old tree but after branches began to fall she knew it was time to cut it down. But what to do with the stump?
She decided to convert the stump into a little free library fit for elves, kids, and adults. The interior had already rotted out so it was mostly pulling out debris. She sketched out a design and she and her husband got to work. It has cedar shingled roof, custom wood trim, a door from e-bay and lighting with the help of a neighbor.
Notice the detail above the door. Those are replicas of famous books.
Now that it’s up and running, it’s mostly self-sustaining. Other than straightening the books so the spines face outward, she pretty much leaves the library alone.
"It's interesting to see what kind of books people add to the shelves,” she said. “I love that even the most obscure titles end up in somebody's hands.”
Howard’s Little Free Library joined a network of more than 80,000 of them across the United States and 91 countries.
The first Little Free Library was built by the late Todd Bol in Hudson, Wis., in 2009, according to Margaret Aldrich, a spokeswoman for the Little Free Library nonprofit organization. The tiny libraries all operate with a common principle: “Take a book, return a book.”