Crestwood-Sunset Hills Adds a "Little Free Library" to the Claire Gempp Davidson Conservation Area; enter contest to win Cardinals tickets with your support

Crestwood-Sunset Hills Kiwanians at new Little Free Library: L to R- Deborah Rhodes, Diane Slattery, Lisa Marin. Donna Rabbit, Mary Saale, Carol Gloss and Teri Jacob.

Editor’s Note: In an effort to promote reading, STLSportsPage.com is holding a contest. Donate a couple of books to an area “Little Free Library” and send us a selfie of you doing it and we will enter you into a drawing to win two Cardinals tickets. Between now and May 31 find one of the outlets below and make your donation. On June 1 we will draw from the list of names of people we get donating books– and one will win the Cardinals tickets. Please email us your photos to: STLSportsPage@gmail.com and feel free to put it on social media, tagging @RobRains and hashtagging #STLSportsPage on Twitter or posting to our STLSportsPage by Rob Rains page on Facebook. If you live in the South County, Crestwood, Sunset Hills area there’s a new one for you to help out. When you donate the books be sure to select some books to “check out” for yourself. Happy Reading!

By Sally Tippett Rains

“Take one leave one” is a theme that is used with the “Little Free Libraries”—the free-standing little houses that are full of books. They are an open door to sharing, teaching the habit of reading and the joy of bringing people together. That joy has been added to the Sunset Hills Area where the Kiwanis Club has just unveiled their “Little Free Library” at the Claire Gempp Davidson Memorial Conservation Area off of Sappington Road

The Crestwood-Sunset Hills Kiwanis Club held a ribbon cutting ceremony on May 16, 2022 for their new Little Free Library at the Claire Gempp Davidson Memorial area.

President Teri Jacob formally dedicated the library.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing families use this little library,” said Jacob. “We hope to hear some great stories of how special this is to some of the residents in the community. We thank all those who support our Kiwanis organization.”

Addie, the grand daughter of Kiwanian Mary Meyer (shown in photo left) was the official ribbon cutter. Children in attendance received a snack and a book to take home. The library contains children’s books for various reading levels and will be enjoyed by local children throughout the summer and beyond. It can be of help to children who are doing summer reading programs or just wanting to do supplemental reading.

Dr. Mary Saale, a retired chiropractor in South County who works with the Kiwanis Club said they built the box low enough for wheel-chair people to be able to use it.

“If this library goes well, we plan on doing several others,” she said.

The Little Free Library is located to the right of the parking lot as you enter from Sappington Road. The great thing about these little libraries is that they enhance the communities nearby. The new one in Sunset Hills allows local residents to take a walk– bring the kids, the dog, push a wheelchair or stroller–and not have the trouble of transferring the wheelchair or putting away the stroller. It affords neighbors to meet other neighbors while promoting one of our favorite pasttimes: reading.

You may have seen other “Little Free Libraries” around town. In fact, one of the Rainbows for Kids children, Veronica Kodelja has one in her front yard. She is in a wheelchair and often goes down her ramp to get out of her house to tend to the books in her library, giving her something to do. She is always happy when people come and take a book because it shows interest by others in what she is doing.

Veronica’s Little Free Library is located in Affton, off Cheshire on Marvale Drive.

Just like the new one at the new Gempp Davidson Estate, the librarian will work to keep the books in order and add more when needed. If the librarian looks out and many books are gone– it shows people are taking them and reading. For those who participate in the Little Free Libraries, some days they bring books and some days they just take them. It is a good-will community-building effort.

The concept started in 2009, as Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, built a model of a one room schoolhouse as a tribute to his mother who loved to read. He filled it with books and put it on a post in his front yard. His neighbors and friends loved it, so he built several more and gave them away. That one little act has turned a fun idea into a movement.

The Little Free Libraries are an extension to the vision set by Andrew Carnegie, who set a goal to fund the creation of 2,508 free public libraries across the English-speaking world.

That goal inspired Bol and UW-Madison’s Rick Brooks, a librarian who quickly got on board with the idea to set their own goal of surpassing 2,508 Little Free Libraries by the end 2013. They wound up exceeding that goal in August of 2012, a year and a half before their target date.

Here are a few of the Little Free Libraries in the St. Louis area, listed online. If you know of a Little Free Library near you we should add to this article please let us know.

Little Free Library

S Grand Blvd

Open 24 hours

DIRECTIONS

Little Free Library

3147 Shenandoah Ave

DIRECTIONS

Little Free Library

3600 Hampton Ave

DIRECTIONS

Little Free Library

3562 S Spring Ave