What sort of person makes the effort to buy and maintain a Little Free Library? For Kalona resident and city council member Craig Spitzer, the motivation comes from a love of reading and a …
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What sort of person makes the effort to buy and maintain a Little Free Library? For Kalona resident and city council member Craig Spitzer, the motivation comes from a love of reading and a desire to share that with others.
Spitzer purchased his Little Free Library about eight years ago and established Charter #24636 near his home at 915 9th Street, Kalona.
“I bought it off the website because I like to read. Bill [Aasberg] and I always read. We’re not TV people, really,” he explains. “So, to me, it was important to have the opportunity for kids to read.”
Kids aren’t the only readers Spitzer hopes to encourage, but he finds that kids’ books are what disappear from his Little Free Library the fastest. He says that especially in summer, people walk by and look to see what’s new. People don’t often leave books in his box, but he doesn’t mind.
“At least I know they’re taking them and reading them,” he says. “Maybe they’re sharing them. They can put them in other libraries,” he notes, imagining that a book that came from his library might be read and then left in another, such as the Little Free Library located not too far away by East Elementary.
He enjoys keeping the selection in his Little free Library fresh and is always on the lookout for more children’s books to add to it. He’s even considered putting the word out on Facebook that if folks have kids’ books they no longer want, he’ll be happy to take them.
Spitzer himself is a huge John Grisham fan.
“I worked at the law school for 26 years, so John Grisham is my idol,” he laughs.
He also loves the simple concept of the Little Free Libraries.
“I’m all for making it simple for anybody,” he says. “Once you teach a child to read, nobody can take that away from him. And once you can read, you can go anywhere in your mind, in your imagination.”
One day he watched a little boy put something into his Little Free Library, and he went out to find a little rock painted with the words, ‘Be kind.’
“I thought, you know what? That makes it all worth it,” he says.
