Little Libraries, a Rose, & a Surprise

Debbie Jenae
Jun 9
2 min read

I recently placed a copy of If Roses Were Blue (my children’s adventure, gently based on the issue of child abuse) in Little Free Libraries. I started with the local neighborhood, then thought why not the whole county? I accessed their website for all locations in Santa Barbara County, printed the maps, wrote in the addresses, and loaded up my car. Road trip! In 7 days, I placed a copy at every site I could find from Carpinteria to Guadalupe. That’s 82 miles as the crow flies, but like all good crows, I made LOTS of stops. Out of 167 sites on the map, I found 131. The remaining 36 were either removed or I didn’t see them.

WHY? I know that the current level of negativity, disrespect, and uncertainty breeds fear and is upsetting to anyone, but can be particularly troubling for victims of abuse of any age because they know that dynamic well. As a survivor and former court-appointed child advocate, I know that change and justice has been slow; people wonder what they can do. And I know there’s not nearly enough material that encourages survivors and reminds them that they are lovable regardless of how they have been treated. As an independent publisher, I recently engaged a global distributor for my books requiring reformatting to meet the distributor’s specs. That’s done and they are available worldwide, but now I have copies of Rose from the first print run in 2017. Passing a little free library in my area, I hit on the idea that expanded from local to the whole county.

Why am I telling you this? Because there’s always something we can do and, sometimes, we need to start with what we actually want (Rose more available to people who will benefit from the story) and be open to a solution that pops up (little free libraries). We don’t have to do it, but if it feels good, makes you smile to think about it… well, that’s how you know it's the right thing to do. It’s a heart thing, and an inspiration worth following!

Scroll down to see some of the creative little libraries I came across. Click one to enlarge and read the captions. And be sure to click the video at the end to see the handsome couple who came out to greet me.