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CEDAR HILLS, Utah County — Judy Arnold's mother and mother-in-law were voracious readers. When the women passed away, Arnold inherited a large collection of books.

"We wanted to share them with the community," she said.

She figured out how while reading an article in Parade Magazine about "little free libraries," dollhouse-sized community book exchanges: take a book, return a book, donate a book; no library card required.

Todd Bol of Hudson, Wisconsin, hatched the idea in 2009 when he built a miniature schoolhouse full of books in honor of his mother. Now there are more than 20,000 little free libraries in front yards across the U.S. and overseas.

Arnold commissioned a little cottage, "Clara and Virginia's Corner," filled it full of books and planted it in by her front fence. She said, in part, because Cedar Hills has no municipal library, business is brisk.

Susan Gustafson and her Little Free Library

"I have vanloads of mothers that come, and I see children jump out of the van and they all go through the books," she said.

William and Pamela Littig of Salt Lake City figure in the past two years they've given away about 2,000 books from their little free library.

"(It) animates the neighborhood and builds a sense of community and literacy," William Littig said.

"We know that there's a homeless gentleman who walks around here a lot every morning," Pamela Littig said. "He gets a book, and it's very sweet, and when I'm out watering or something he'll say 'thank you.' It's very touching."

(It) animates the neighborhood and builds a sense of community and literacy. –William Littig

"It doesn't feel like our little thing," Kate Birch of Salt Lake said about the little free library her husband built for her and gave her as a Christmas present. "It feels like we've given something to the street."

"(My mother) instilled in me not only the love of reading but the love of community, of giving back to what we have, and I think that's why she is pleased with this effort," Arnold said. "It's an effortless effort to be able to give what you already have, what you no longer need to someone who does need it."

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