Canada Reads brings tiny new libraries to P.E.I.
Canada Reads and local community groups help spread a love of reading with tiny libraries
There will soon be five new tiny lending libraries in communities throughout P.E.I., thanks to a partnership between CBC and local community organizations.
As part of Canada Reads, CBC P.E.I. has partnered with the PEI Public Library Service, Reading Town PEI and the PEI Literacy Alliance to bring five new little libraries to five communities throughout the Island.
It's wonderful. When the library's not open there can be books accessed.— Kelly Cahill, Little Pond Brownie leader
People can take a book or leave one, any time of the day or night, without a library card.
The wooden boxes will go up in Montague, Souris, Tyne Valley and Charlottetown, and are currently being decorated by groups in those communities.
CBC P.E.I. and Canada Reads paid to have them built, and for a set of this year's Canada Reads books for each of the libraries.
The Boys and Girls Club in Montague decided to go with a hand-print theme.
"I think it's great to get the club involved with the community, and to have the public able to have access to free books and bring in some of their own that they don't need anymore to share," said club staff member Angela Davis.
Members of the Girl Guides in the Souris area are decorating their library with flowers and butterflies.
Their members are working on a literacy challenge and decorating the little library was a nice complement, said Little Pond Brownie leader Kelly Cahill.
"It's wonderful. When the library's not open there can be books accessed. And let the girls see the importance of books and the availability of them," she said.
The Fox Club Society in Charlottetown is in the process of planning their little library design.
The society is a place where adults can learn new skills such as archery, food preserving or rock climbing.
"I've seen them around town and it's just a really cute little idea to be able to have, just when you're going for a walk you see them," said society member Ashley LeFort.
"Next time you bring a book with you, take one, leave one. It's also a way for us, again, to continue to get out in the community."
The 4-H in Tyne Valley is taking on a little library too.
CBC is still looking for a group to decorate the library in Summerside.
An evening with Anita Rau Badami
Island Morning host Matt Rainnie will host an evening with Canada Reads author Anita Rau Badami at the Confederation Centre Library in Charlottetown at 7 p.m. on March 10.
Badami will read from her second novel, The Hero's Walk, an intimate look at a troubled family. The book follows an Indian man who loses his daughter and her husband in a car crash, then takes in a seven-year-old Canadian granddaughter he has never met.
The audience at the event, which is free to the public, will also get to check out some of the little libraries.