Little Lending Library

So normally when I go for a walk, I'm like WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH down the street at super speed, going so fast I barely notice ANYTHING (unless the fat squirrel is out—we always stop to feed the fat squirrel). But this week, since hubby has been home, I've been walking with him... at about 1/32nd my normal pace. You think I'm exaggerating, don't you? Well if he were walking his NORMAL pace, I only double him (seriously--I do--he meanders, I power walk). But he is low on blood and tires easily. I don't want him to fall down. So we've SLOWED down even from HIS poky pace. And I've noticed something a little bit precious on my block...

Two houses have these signs in front of their house... and then these BOXES of Books!(not just boxes--weatherproof havens)  Outside, right there to borrow on the honor system.

Now I've been part of workplaces before that had bookshelves for sharing. In fact I've found some of my FAVORITE EVER books that way (The Poisonwood Bible and The Red Tent come to mind)--books I may not have bought for their description, but that I ADORED when I read them. They were profound. So I love a system like this.

But I've never seen it somewhere BESIDES a workplace (if you don't count me pilfering books from my mother's house). What a BRILLIANT idea this is at a neighborhood level!

What I REALLY want to know is... is this some official bigger thing? Is this an Only In Ann Arbor thing? Is it regional? National? A website people can order from to implement wherever somebody gets the wild hair? Have any of YOU ever seen it? I suppose having a box of books sitting outside, unwatched, is something you'd need a crime-free neighborhood for--not just for theft, but vandals, too. But how cool is this!?

I can tell you MY plan. I have my eyes open for June (the woman in the house—she's been in our neighborhood... maybe from the start—a long time, anyway)—I want to ask permission to put a copy of my book in it. And as I finish my LARGE TBR pile, I am HAPPY to donate to it. I love the idea. I might even consider one at our house in the future, but not while we have the birdies in our mailbox. I wouldn't want all the extra activity just yet.