Beware of unwelcome bonus at Little Free Library boxes

 

Without reservation, I enjoy visiting Little Free Library boxes in and around my own hometown. I even peek into them sometimes when I am traveling. I love the idea of passing a book I’ve read along for someone else to enjoy, and it’s fun to pick out another one to dig into.

 You're probably familiar with these. They are little take-a-book, share-a-book stations that can be found in neighborhoods, village downtowns, school entries, and plenty of other spots. 

 Santa, are you listening? I’d be pleased to set up such a station outside my own home, so neighbors and friends could swap books easily. This one is really neat, with an appealing design and plenty of room inside. There's also a smaller one that resembles an old English photo booth, although I'd probably fill that in an instant with all the books I could pass along. And there's a handy compact double-decker version, although it looks a bit like an outhouse to me. (Hey, if you've even been to camp, you know.)

 Having said all that, I cannot forget three incidents that pestered me about poking into Little Free Library boxes in the past few years.

 

MITE-y annoying surprise.

 First, it was the book bugs. I grabbed a paperback mystery a while ago and headed home with it. I settled into a chair on my patio, enjoying a mild summer evening, and cracked open the new (passed-along) book. Almost immediately, I literally felt my skin crawling, as tiny mites escaped from between the pages. (I've heard of bookworms, but this was something altogether different.)

 

Getting ANTsy about a new read.

 On another occasion, I placed a trio of paperbacks into another Little Free Library box in our town. Delighted to find a fairly new title I’d been hoping to read, I pulled a book out of the box and began flipping through the pages. That’s when I noticed dozens of tiny ants crawling all over the inside of the book.

 

WASP up with that?

 More recently, I visited still another Little Free Library near my home. Clearing out my own bookshelf, I went and piled a few volumes inside the book box. I noticed the contents seemed to be randomly tossed into there, so I began straightening up the proffered collection. 

Suddenly, I felt a painfully sharp sting on one hand. That’s when I noticed a cloud of wasps, swarming out of their nest, which was situated up under the rafters of the house-shaped book box. I reported this to the village hall, located across the street from it, and the staff there promised to alert the Boy Scout troop that managed that Little Free Library. Later, I noticed a handwritten note on the front of the box, indicating its interior had been wasp-sprayed. A few were still zipping around inside and outside of it.

 

I won't give up on Little Free Libraries.

 I am still visiting such book swapping sites these days, but I have learned to look closely before digging around for books to read. And I examine those quite carefully, especially the ones that appear to be well worn or water-damaged. If I really want such a book, I place it in a zippered plastic bag and freeze it for a day or two, hoping to do away with any mold or creepy crawlies.

 Book mites and ants and wasps, oh my!

 I guess it takes a bit more effort to host a Little Free Library than simply setting up the box and filling it with books to share. 

 

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• Ripped off at the thrift store!

 

Image/s: Wasp nest – public domain photo, Others - LAN personal photo/s

 

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