A repurposed newspaper box beckons curious minds near the playground in a humble Lower Lonsdale park.
“Welcome. Take a book, leave a book. Read. Read. Read,” urges colourfully written instructions on the gleaming white box.
Brook Davison, the brainchild behind the library project at Chief Mathias Joe Park, is “a little bookish you could say.”
The avid reader approached the City of North Vancouver three years ago to say she was interested in starting a little library in her neighbourhood.
“I just loved, and I still do, that you can just lose yourself in a book and be transported into a different world,” says Davison, who works in alumni relations at Capilano University.
The city’s parks and recreation staff gave their blessing for the diminutive book repository and the North Shore News donated a decommissioned newspaper box to Davison.
In making the box more inviting to young readers, chalkboard paint was added to one side where kids leave cheerful messages: “Welcome to the park!” “I love to read,” “Be awesome.”
Just around the time school let out this summer, the little library was installed in the park. Pull down the lever and inside the box, separated on two small shelves, a world of discovery awaits.
Davison says the library is currently stocked with kids’ books along with sci-fi, memoirs and autobiographical reads for adults. Some she donated from her own collection of books, others came from friends who think the little library is a “cool” initiative.
“I ran to the Salvation Army and grabbed as many kids’ books as I could,” says Davison with a laugh.
But something was missing from the library. It needed some local and Canadian content. So, Davison reached out to three authors, asking if they would be interested in donating signed copies of their books.
North Shore authors Cea Sunrise Person (North of Normal), Jackie Bateman (Nondescript Rambunctious and Savour), along with fellow acclaimed author Lawrence Hill (The Book of Negroes) happily obliged.
They all inscribed their books, “To the Users of the Little Library at Chief Mathias Joe Park.”
Davison, who has since moved to Lynn Valley, is hoping residents of the Lower Lonsdale neighbourhood will become stewards of the library. “It sort of brings the community together,” she says. “I see people gathering around the library and talking about the books.”
For Davison, the project also aims to get kids reacquainted with physical books.
“I hope it will get kids excited about reading and enjoy that textile experience of reading a real book with paper,” she says.
