Owen High student Lilly Lloyd, president of the school’s book club, has fulfilled a dream to set up Little Libraries in Swannanoa. Popping up in neighborhoods across the world, Little Libraries are small boxes holding books that people share for free. Lilly’s project began with the acquisition of two retired newspaper boxes from the Asheville Citizen Times. With the help of her parents, Doug and Patti Lloyd, Lilly retrofitted the boxes to be inviting Little Library spaces. Doug put a roof on the boxes and helped weatherproof them. Lilly’s mom, Patti, who is an art teacher at Owen Middle, helped her paint them.
One of the boxes is in the Grovemont Park playground, adjacent to the Swannanoa Library, and the other is alongside the parking lot next to the Owen Middle School football field. The Friends of the Swannanoa Library agreed to donate children’s books from its basement book sale to help keep the Little Libraries stocked.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that inspires a love of reading, builds community, and sparks creativity by fostering neighborhood book exchanges around the world. You can learn more about Little Libraries at littlefreelibrary.org/about.