Little Free Library at Green Acres Elementary
“Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift.”
Award-winning children’s book author Kate DiCamillo is credited with the above quote and five Girl Scouts from Pope High School in Marietta exemplify it wonderfully. Julia Acker, Abby Freed, Erin Kappel, Aila McLean, and Ansley Roberts (not pictured) are students at Pope and belong to Girl Scout Troop 13389. These remarkable young ladies came together to work on the Girl Scout “Silver Project” and are responsible for establishing a Little Free Library (LFL) at Green Acres Elementary School in Smyrna.
Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization dedicated to putting books in the hands of children and adults in communities around the world with a vision to have “a Little Free Library in every community and a book for every reader.” These book-sharing boxes remove barriers to book access by being available seven days a week, 24 hours a day with free accessibility. LFLs operate under the “Take One, Leave One” theory which encourages readers to not only take a book, but to leave one for others when there is an ability to do so.
A ribbon cutting was held for the Green Acres Elementary LFL on the morning of September 9, 2021. Green Acres Principal Ashley Mize says, “We are very excited at Green Acres to have our new Little Free Library! Our community has need and we have wanted to do this for several years. Many of our students live within walking distance to the school so it is perfect for the students to access after school and on the weekends. Building a love of reading is essential to our student’s success in school and life. Thank you to Cobb Collective and The Girl Scouts for the time and energy they put into this project for our students. We can’t wait to see our students and community engage with the library and for our students love of reading to grow!”
As a Little Free Library community partner, Cobb Collaborative has a goal of establishing 21 LFLs throughout Cobb County in 2021. The LFL at Green Acres Elementary is #12 in this initiative with more planned for installation throughout the remainder of the year. Cobb Collaborative also serves as the local point of contact for the Get Georgia Reading Campaign. Research from the campaign demonstrates that development and use of language skills from childhood through adolescence can have a dramatic and positive impact on an individual’s quality of life and life outcomes. For more information on Little Free Libraries, including sponsorship opportunities, please contact Cobb Collaborative Executive Director, Irene Barton, via email at ibarton@cobbcollaborative.org.
