Opinion

Houston area now has 3 Little Free Libraries

Lynne Foley of Baytown dedicated her Little Free Library to her mother-in-law. Lynne Foley of Baytown dedicated her Little Free Library to her mother-in-law. Photo: Lynne Foley Photo: Lynne Foley Image 1 of / 8 Caption Close Houston area now has 3 Little Free Libraries 1 / 8 Back to Gallery

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the Little Free Library movement and lamented the apparent lack of any of the pint-size book exchanges in the Houston area.

Well, I'm happy to say I was wrong - there was one - and even happier to say there are now more.

The Little Free Library movement encourages people to set up small free-standing structures, fill them with books and let people take them. Then they, ideally, leave their own books in exchange.

Lynne Foley of Baytown was flying back from her mother-in-law's funeral in Minnesota in February when she saw a story on the Little Free Libraries in USA Today. "In the back of my mind, I thought, 'That would be really something to do that and do it in memory of Gertie,' " she says. Her mother-in-law, a voracious reader, spent winters with Foley and her husband.

An NBC News report on the libraries sealed the deal. She talked to her husband, and they decided to make their library out of recycled materials: a Bostitch tool box, leftover roof shingles. "My husband is an engineer, and I think very clever," she says. Soon they had it up and running.

About 100 books are being traded in and out of the library outside her house at 204 Post Oak Drive, many of them children's books. Foley would love to have kids' field trips to the library. But she's also adamant that she doesn't want anyone to feel obligated to leave a book.

Although Foley was the first, she's not alone. Mag Franzoni of the Heights read my column and was inspired to put a cute little red house-shaped library outside her house at 736 Tulane.

The first book to go was on yoga; the second was a thick biography of Ho Chi Minh. (It is the Heights, after all.) She's working on putting out a flier explaining what the library is all about.

Two problems: "We have no children's books, hint hint," she says. And her street is a dead end, which limits traffic. She's toying with the idea of making the library movable, and in a couple of months putting it on friends' property near the bike trail, where plenty of people circulate.

Live west of town? You're not out of luck, thanks to the efforts of Tim Hausman. On his Cinco Ranch cul-de-sac in Katy (25314 Sandy Trace Lane), he put up a refurbished cabinet. It's brown with green-and-red trim, a Plexiglas front and a rooster door handle. He employed the enthusiastic help of his 14- and 16-year-olds. The library even has its own Facebook page.

He's trying to keep a good variety of books: children's books, humor and books by his favorite, Donald Miller.

And he's making a social point. "People don't talk to each other very much. This can provide an excuse."

And the library I promised I'd put up? Ahem. I'm getting around to it. I've been a little busy marrying off a daughter.

kyrie.oconnor@chron.com