Hemet newlyweds Rebecca Crawford-Pendelton and Chase Pendelton built a miniature “Little Free Library” that offers books for free to take or drop off in the front of their home in Hemet, August 27, 2014. (FRANK BELLINO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

Hemet newlyweds Rebecca Crawford-Pendleton and Chase Pendelton built a miniature library “Free Little Library” that offers books for free to take or drop off in the front of their home in Hemet, August 27, 2014. (FRANK BELLINO, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)

The Hemet Public Libray faces a little competition, especially on the three days each week the beautiful facility is closed.

East Hemet newlyweds Chase Pendelton, 27, and Rebecca Crawford-Pendelton, 28, opened their own Little Free Library in August after seeing a location in Seattle. They thought it was a great idea they wanted to bring home to Hemet.

Unlike the city facility that cut its days due do budget woes, the Little Free Library always is open.

The couple’s tiny sharing library is on the Stanford Street side of their 1930s-era home at the corner of Whittier Avenue. It is available to the public day and night for selecting or donating books.

Pendelton, who works in construction for Southern California Edison, used recycled materials to build a stylish, chalet-like book library that is the size of a dollhouse. A glass door protects its three shelves of books from the elements.

They primed the library with used books of their own. People quickly got the idea and began donating and taking books, including children’s editions, which made the couple happy.

“Anything we can do to help unplug America,” said Crawford-Pendelton, who works as a marriage-and-family therapy intern at the Center Against Sexual Assault of Southwest Riverside County in Hemet.

Information about the movement and how to start a Little Free Library is available on the littlefreelibrary.org website.

The couple’s Little Free Library appears to be the first location in the San Jacinto Valley for the national, nonprofit organization and one of a handful in the Inland region.

The movement began in 2009 with one little library in Wisconsin, with locations growing by the thousands in just five years. The Pendelton’s official sign lists their library as charter No. 18,294.

Pendelton said he was surprised when they looked at the website’s location map and didn’t see Little Free Libraries in the Temecula area, the San Jacinto Valley or the San Gorgonio Pass.

The website’s location map shows the closest Little Free Library is in, not surprisingly, Idyllwild, a mountain habitat for intellectuals. The Little Free Library No. 3,050 is located at 252624 Cougar Road, Idyllwild, and under the stewardship of Mark Salter.

There are two in San Bernardino, four in Redlands and two in Riverside, including a Little Free Library in front of the Riverside Woman’s Club at 4092 Tenth Street.

Locations can be viewed by clicking the map heading on the Little Free Library website.

One of the Hemet couple’s hopes is that their library is copied across the San Jacinto Valley and beyond.

“I’m really excited about it,” Pendelton said. “No one defaced it. We are getting lots of positive comments.”

With a high-visibility location on busy Stanford Street not far from Hemet High, the library also has a steady flow of books being donated and taken.

The couple looks at their Little Free Library as something positive to add to the San Jacinto Valley at a time when people grumble about declining property values and quality of life during the Great Recession.

Pendelton grew up in Hemet. Crawford-Pendelton is from Stockton.They met while attending Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff and settled in Hemet. They were happy to buy an old home that once was part of a grove. A massive walnut tree still grows in their backyard.

They are exactly what Hemet needs – young, positive people with good careers and enthusiasm for living in the San Jacinto Valley.

Their Little Free Library is a great addition to the area. I’m certain it won’t be their last contribution.

Contact the writer: 951-368-9078 or bpratte@pe.com