On Thursday, July 29th, around 11:45 pm, a Little Library in the Mercer Firs neighborhood of Mercer Island was destroyed by an act of vandalism. Neighbors reported hearing a loud bang and seeing an older white suburban with noisy exhaust pipes speeding away from the neighborhood.

This was a fairly new Little Library, perhaps less than a year old.  The original is pictured above and was already popular among the kids in the neighborhood, including my own.

The new Little Library, even better than before

While we didn’t see the damage, we did find that the library was replaced for a time with plastic crates filled with books and covered with a blue tarp.

In less than a week, a new Little Library, almost exactly the same as the first, but even better, replaced the first – rebuilt by neighborhood resident, Rex Berkshire.

Neighbors celebrated by sharing photos and notes of thanks on the online community forum, NextDoor. It’s a little tale of triumph, and we hope the vandals will stay away.

So, visit a Little Library near you – take a book, leave a book.  Our neighborhoods are better because of them.