All across Lakewood and into the suburbs of Cleveland, small wooden boxes filled with books stand among street signs and homes. Cleveland and Lakewood residents are invited to a whole new adventure full of books. These Little Free Libraries support the mission of helping residents pick and share their favorite books. Behind every one of them is a neighbor, a reader and a hope to make books accessible for everyone.
In addition to being scattered across the Cleveland area, the Little Free Libraries have a deep connection to Cleveland Kid’s Book Bank. In fact, the book bank was created from the Little Libraries after an unexpected storage challenge. “The group realized pretty quickly that they didn’t have enough books to fill the libraries that they were building. And Judy and Judy, who are both dynamic and entrepreneurial spirits, kind of thought, we need a different solution,” says Leslie FitzSimmons, the communications manager of the book bank’s foundation.
The Book Bank’s mission to improve literacy throughout the Cleveland area for students flows directly into projects like the Little Free Libraries — ensuring no child goes without a book.
“We have distributed more than five million books in Greater Cleveland. Our goal really is to make free books available wherever kids go. Everywhere they turn, there’s going to be a free book,” FitzSimmons said. Since Lakewood is a local community, everything is walkable — a perfect opportunity to view these libraries. Each one is small but serves as a strong reminder that literature is important for everyone.
Bayes Avenue, located just down the street from Roosevelt Elementary, holds two Little Free Libraries that provide a great range of stories for all genres and reading levels. “I wanted to make mine specifically smaller, so it fits specific books. I have banned books mostly, and books for black, indigenous, people of color, or LGBTQ youth,” says Hannah Kasamias.
The beauty in the libraries doesn’t emerge from the lawn it sits on, but the home it lives in. In Kasamias’s case, her main mission was to curate something for children that challenges the political ideals shaping the world today. At the same time, she makes it enjoyable for students of all reading levels to find something to pick out, while emphasizing banned books.
“A lot of the libraries in the area are mostly children’s books, and I thought it would be interesting to serve different populations, like middle school kids or kids who are in underserved populations,” Kasamias said. While other library owners want to give back to the community, Kasamias has a goal to convey the value of diversity and inclusion in the form of a small wooden box.
While Ohio currently has no books banned, the legislation has seen multiple challenges to books, raising the potential threat to books in the state’s future. When stories are on the brink of being banned, Little Free Libraries stand as a quiet act of resistance. Readers of any age or reading level should be given the opportunity to be exposed to literature that they enjoy, as well as to ideas that broaden their horizons.
“I think what it does is it raises awareness about the importance of literacy. I think it sends a strong message that we’re a community — or wherever we happen to be — that we’re a community that values access to books,” says LHS librarian Kevin Costello. Costello is an advocate of preaching the importance of reading and what books can do for students. In a diverse city like Lakewood, Ohio, students at LHS and other schools have a trusted librarian who can educate them on the importance of books and the significance of banned books.
Little Free Libraries symbolize more than just words on paper — they represent freedom, interests, and connections. With the help of Leslie FitzSimmons and her team at the Kids Book Bank, students throughout the Cleveland area can immerse themselves in a world of stories. In Lakewood, these libraries continue to provide small spaces that hold big ideas — the love of reading will always find a way to be shared.
