By Drew Adams
Photos © Denise Gary, Mesa Arts Center, and Mesa Urban Garden
Taking a pleasant afternoon stroll in downtown Mesa, Arizona? Happen to find yourself relaxing at Mesa Urban Garden? Lamenting the fact that you do not have a book to while away the hours? You are in luck: Mesa Arts Center has partnered with Kids Need to Read to bring a registered Little Free Library to the community!
What is a Little Free Library, you ask? Originating in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin, Little Free Libraries are uniquely built community resources that encourage the acts of reading and sharing via the simple rule of take a book/return a book. Thousands of these miniature libraries exist across both the United States and abroad. It is a superb, worldwide community project that exists through the collaborative desire to promote the gift of reading for all, but especially for those with a lack of access to books and other rich reading materials.
Kids Need to Read has provided books to several of these projects nationwide, and it is so exciting to have a Little Free Library to nurture together with our friends at Mesa Arts Center. Located in Mesa Urban Garden on 1st Avenue, between the court house and Republica Empanda, this Little Free Library is an old phone booth repurposed by Mesa Arts Center artisans. Stop by and avail yourself of the library—or any library in your area, for that matter!
Be sure to stick around to enjoy the beautiful and serene urban garden while you are there. It is a superb community project in its own right!
