MEADOWS OF DAN – For the past 600 years, people have traversed the path from the Tabard Inn to Canterbury in Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales.” Since 1615, dreamers have fought windmill giants alongside Alonso Quixano in Miguel de Cervantes’s “Don Quixote.” Readers have also experienced the wrongful conviction of Tom Robinson in a depression-era courtroom in Maycomb, Alabama, in Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
A good book can stick with a person for years. Whether fiction or nonfiction, stories take readers on international journeys from the comfort of their own homes.
While most people visit their local library when they’re up for a new literary adventure, being in a single building surrounded by thousands of books isn’t currently possible in Meadows of Dan.
Traveling back and forth to the Patrick County Library in Stuart every couple of days isn’t a practical option for many in the Blue Ridge Mountain region. If someone in the area wants to read a specific book without having to travel half an hour to pick it up, there are generally two options – order it online or borrow it from a friend.
People are also reading…
In an effort to make books more accessible to the people living in the mountainous community, especially children, members of the Meadows of Dan Ruritan Club sprung to action.
“Our school is so small that we have a retired teacher who comes in as a librarian once a week,” said Meadows of Dan Elementary School Principal Jason Wood, a member of the local Ruritan club.
Other than their one day of exposure to a room full of books per week, the children at the school have two additional opportunities to select a new manuscript each month. The Patrick County Book Mobile rolls up the mountain every other week, offering kids a chance to select a new piece of reading material.
“They get a variety of access to books, but not as much as we’d like,” Wood said.
At a recent meeting, the local Ruritans decided to tackle the issue.
“We had a discussion on ways to put books in the hands of people in our community and school children,” Wood said.
The club ultimately decided to place small, stationary libraries in three places throughout the Meadows of Dan area, one of which was the elementary school.
“One of our members, George Newton, agreed to build the boxes,” Wood said.
When Newton completed the first box, members of the elementary school’s Junior BETA Club volunteered to help with the installation.
“They actually did the groundbreaking and mixed the Quikrete,” Wood said. “It was one of their service projects.”
The Meadows of Dan Elementary School Junior BETA Club members also plan to install the other two boxes around town.
About the size of a large mailbox, the Little Free Library – which the local Ruritans plan to register with the international nonprofit organization of the same name – allows community members an opportunity to select a book at any time of day or night.
While each Little Free Library has a different variety of works, Wood said the ones at the elementary school will always be kid-friendly.
“The selection of books came from donations from Ruritan members, discarded books from our school library and people in the community,” Wood said.
Over the Labor Day weekend, an anonymous donor left a collection of age-appropriate books in the box, over which Wood expressed the school’s gratitude.
While Wood says he would love for the community donations to continue, his biggest hope is that the Little Free Library will be utilized so much, there will be a vacant box from time to time.
“I hope that we have to replenish quite often,” Wood said. “The idea is take a book, leave a book. Even if people are taking them and not returning [or exchanging] them, our mission is to put books out there in the hands of those in our community.”
A library on a smaller scale, Wood looks forward to the impact the box will make on the Meadows of Dan area.
“We’re hoping this will increase reading for pleasure and foster a desire and love for reading at an early age,” Wood said. “Studies show that if kids read for 20 minutes a day, they’re more successful academically, all the way up through college and in the workforce.”
Offering a variety of literary adventures for readers, the Little Free Library at the elementary school is open to the public, not just children who attend classes in the adjacent building.
“I hope this will be a year-round asset to our community,” Wood said.
While there is a good selection of books available at the time, there’s always room for more.
“We need a variety of books,” Wood said. “Since we’re an elementary school site, I’ll be monitoring the books” to ensure appropriate content.
For those interested in donating kid-friendly books to the local Little Free Library, contact the elementary school at (276) 952-2424.
Amie Knowles reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at
Amie Knowles reports for the Martinsville Bulletin. She can be reached at amie.pickeral@martinsvillebulletin.com
