Royalty Reads Little Free Library

📘📚📕Welp… I finally did it.

I said I was going to do it, got in my feelings and procrastinated.

Yesterday I delivered hundreds of books to the new stewards of Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries and said “Farewell”.

I am officially retired from my short but meaningful Little Free Library stewardship life.

I started counting the books that I placed in neighborhood libraries my first year and then lost count, but I do know that more than 5,000 books representing BIPOC were put out into the world for our young people to open, read and see themselves in stories with so many possibilities.

I hope my little summer daydream inspires them all to dream beyond their wildest dreams!

I am completing this journey filled with love, pride and tremendous gratitude.

Thank you to everyone who supported me throughout this literature adventure.❤️

📘📚📕Hello, Thank you and Farewell....

I currently have 6 Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries in storage that have been either vandalized or damaged in the past 8 months. All of these were once housed in public park spaces in Evanston.

It has been incredibly disheartening to see these libraries being treated so horribly and it has broken my heart to have to take them down, leaving neighborhoods without free BIPOC literature access.

Honestly, I do not have the skills (or time & patience) to repair them and lack the funds to replace them.

I have thought long and hard about what my next move should be for Royalty Reads. It has weighed heavy on me, as I want nothing more than to serve my beloved community.

It was painful to come to this decision, but I have decided to step away from my original Royalty Reads Little Free Library dream...

I will no longer be installing and stewarding Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries.

Those libraries that I have installed at private residences will remain in place and stewardship has been transferred to those amazing homeowners. I send a huge "Thank you" to them for supporting me, their neighborhood community and Royalty Reads Little Free Library. I hope that their neighborhoods continue to have abundant access to BIPOC literature through their library stewardship!

If you are interested in taking possession of a damaged little free library and taking over stewardship of it in its original public park space, please reach out to me. I would love to arrange to drop one off to you with a load of books for your first book fill.

I have, however, decided to continue to take book donations and will book-bomb and mail book packages to little free libraries in the community. This still allows me to contribute to my dream of sharing BIPOC literature.

Thank you for your generous and constant support of Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries over the past 2 ½ years. You were the reason why it grew beyond my wildest summer daydream!

If you would like to continue to contribute to Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries as I shift to solely purchasing and distributing books, you may do so here:

https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=f586faba-768a-4a4e-9ac4-133609c3263e

Thank you again.

With enormous gratitude,

Tracy

Royalty Reads Little Free Library is 2 YEARS OLD today!

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I am all in my feelings about this…

There are some days this project feels overwhelming and I just want to quit.

Then, there are days when I feel so satisfied after I have gone out into the community and stock libraries with amazing new books.

Recently, I was able to gift a young, Black, first-time teacher a bundle of books for her classroom of young Black kindergartners.

Who would have thought that a summertime daydream would have led to the opportunity to provide BIPOC opportunities to see themselves being reflected in literature, having their identities affirmed, seen, valued, celebrated and represented in books that mirror their images and their lives

In 2 years, 17 Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries have been installed:

• 14 in Evanston’s 5th ward and 2nd ward
• 3 on Chicago’s South Side

Over 2000+ books have been donated, purchased and distributed throughout the 17 Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries.

Please celebrate with me by sharing this post and encouraging your friends to donate towards another year of making literature for our BIPOC accessible in our communities.

https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads

Thank you for all of your constant support throughout these first 2 years. I continue to be humbled and honored to do this work for my communities.❤️

This Beauty, LFL #125986, was added to the Royalty Reads Little Free Library family yesterday!

That make #17 Little Free Libraries that have been installed by Royalty Reads!

Thank you to Ron Whitmore for giving this library a home so it can provide affirming literature to BIPOC in his neighborhood!

https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads

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Just dropped off a load of books to my FAVORITE Royalty Reads Little Free Library at Brave Space Alliance!




https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads

Thank you Jessy Zaia for this amazing book donation to Royalty Reads Little Free Library!

I Love the bonus flags to help kick off Pride Month!

Your constant support is truly appreciated!❤️

Yesterday was a Spring Refill day for the Evanston Royalty Reads Little Free Libraries!

They are all fully stocked with amazing books!

Unfortunately, I discovered than several of the Libraries were vandalized and damaged and will need to be taken down.

Once they are removed, I do not know how long it will be until they can be replaced. Funds will have to be raised for repairs or new libraries to be purchased.

If you are interested in donating to Royalty Reads Little Free Library to help keep books in these Little Free Libraries and provide financial assistance in the replacement of damaged libraries, you may do so here:

https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads

Thank you for all of your support!

Wow! I am so grateful and excited by this amazing act of generosity by Neighbor to Neighbor Literacy Project -N2N!

What a great gift to Evanston Neighborhoods that are homes to Royalty Reads Little Free Library.

Happy Reading!

Happy New Year!!

Oh yeah… Royalty Reads had some Top Nine moments in 2021!

None of these moments would have been possible without your constant, kind and generous support!

Want to help make some 2022 Top Nine moments??

*Like and share this post.
*Kick off the New Year with a donation to Royalty Reads: https://linktr.ee/Royaltyreads

Thank you for all that you do to keep this amazing project alive!!!

~Tracy Drummer Aiden

📗📚📘.

Thank you Yasi Nassiri and Lilly for the dope book donations!