SOUTH HADLEY –  A local teacher is spreading the joy of reading with a free little library installed outside of her home.

South Hadley resident Stefani Holmes is a middle school teacher. She said following the coronavirus pandemic last year, she brought items from her classroom home with her including books and games. “I probably have about 60 versions of UNO,” she joked.

While the little free library exists outside of her home on Brittany Road, she said she cannot take credit for the idea. She said years ago, one of her colleagues who ran a Girl Scout troop “made two as part of a project that they were doing.” Since then, Holmes said she had looked into making her own and done research into little libraries around the world.

She explained there was movement not only across America, but across the world, and one could send off for a plaque and to be put on a map. She said she hadn’t done that as of yet.    

While she had been wanting to establish her little library for years, Holmes said she only just got around to it over the summer. “I wanted to do it years ago. This summer I put money aside to buy one,” she said.

She said she considered making her own, but instead bought a “glorified bird house,” she joked. Holmes said having her classroom materials home and no one to read them inspired her to begin the library. “I have lots of school stuff and no one to read it, my kids are now 17 and 21, and my nieces and new-he’s live out of state,” she said. “My neighborhood has people that do a lot of walking.”

So she bought the structure for her library and filled it with books and games for people of all ages. She said she has noticed it being used, and monitors it to ensure everything is appropriate. “People have put in books. I’ll peek at it every so often to make sure things are appropriate,” she said.

Holmes added that she noticed “a couple books hadn’t made it back,” however she emphasized that it was not the intention that she “wanted something returned.”