Group seeks free libraries to expand horizons for kids at local public housing sites

The children gathered around for story time at the Saybrook Apartments supportive housing complex had never seen snow in person — that’s why case manager Pamela Marquez wanted to read to them from a picture book about a boy’s snow day.

“The ability of reading to (send) you someplace else — that’s what it did for me when I was a child,” Marquez said after setting down the picture book.

“A lot of our children, they’ve never been out of Sacramento, to the American River for goodness sake, so the mountains might as well be Siberia,” she said. “So (they can) get any book and be able to transport themselves anywhere.”

That’s why Lutheran Social Services of Northern California, the organization that runs the Saybrook Apartments, is asking for help from Book of Dreams to install Little Free Libraries there and at two more of its public housing sites in the Sacramento area.

The Little Free Libraries are small freestanding kiosks with a space for books where residents can share and check out books at their leisure.

The complexes provide permanent housing and a variety of support services to formerly homeless families as they get back on their feet — and that includes books for the kids.

For Saybrook Apartments in south Sacramento, there’s a small communal bookshelf next to the story time carpet and the Sacramento Public Library’s Bookmobile brings kids various books and other media every so often.

“It was really exciting to see the kids take to it so quickly,” Marquez said of those services.

But it’s difficult for many residents to go beyond what’s immediately available at Saybrook.

Many have limited financial means and others do not own cars, so the complex’s relative distance from light rail and the inconvenient nearby bus routes make it what Marquez called “landlocked.”

“We’re very restricted in transportation, we’re not on a good bus line, we don’t even have a grocery store, we certainly don’t have library access,” she said.

But with the addition of Little Free Libraries, Marquez said, children will have a greater selection of reading materials right at their fingertips, bringing the love of learning one step closer to home.

“For us to have the kiosks, it gives our children accessibility to books,” Marquez said. “One of the things that we’re really trying to do is just get a spectrum of books for everyone’s interests.”

For 5-year-old Egypt McIntyre, that means fairy tales and princess stories. Her sister Isys, 11, prefers action and adventure.

Renee McIntyre, their mother and a resident at the Saybrook Apartments, said she’s a fan of horror — and she hopes the Free Little Libraries might help encourage all kinds of reading at the complex by virtue of proximity.

“A lot of people don’t get to experience even going to the library or even having that opportunity, so I think it’s great,” Renee said. “It’ll give a lot of the kids here something to do other than running amok.”

Stephanie Provencio, the mother of two elementary school-age boys who are voracious readers, said more books nearby means her kids can learn more easily.

“It’s hard transportation-wise,” Provencio said. “We can ride the bus (to the library) but that takes two to three hours.”

Nekeitha Carradine, another Saybrook resident, said her children have started to pick up reading, and she’s eager to see more services available for them.

“Before, they really weren’t so much reading,” Carradine said. “But once we moved here, they had more opportunities and programs for the kids and they got into every one of them and so now their minds and everything have expanded.”

The request

Needed: Funds to install Little Free Libraries at three Sacramento-area housing complexes run by Lutheran Family Services.

Cost: $1,500