3rd-5th grade Book Club: Front: Conrad Cassell, Sasha Willier Middle: Tate Wenderott, Leah Alderman, J.C. Whitaker, Hadley Hajny, Graham Castillo, Maddux Weishaar, Leityn Bolinder, Hannah Ringel Back: Emily Hess, Stephanie Tharman
The residents of Alma have a new place to find books.
AES third grade teacher Emily Hess and the Alma Elementary Book Club decided to build a Little Library. It is located on Ohio St. between the parking lot and the high school.
“We live in an area where books are hard to access without transportation,” Hess said. It offers a few more choices than what there is at the public library. Hess hopes the Little Library will help build community and show that we place value on literacy.
The first Little Library was made in 2009 by Todd Bol in Hudson, Wisconsin. Currently there is over 90,000 registered Little Libraries and many more unregistered ones. Little Libraries are located in 91 different countries worldwide.
The cost was minimal due to the fact that Sara Alderman’s parents built the Little Library and Hess painted it. Overall it cost around $250 to install. According to Hess, the benefits of it outweigh the cost.
Hess encourages anyone to bring books to the Library for all ages. The goal is to get enough books to have a stash of them so they can be rotated.
Books for all ages are currently available from “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” and picture books to Stephen King and James Patterson.
If the library is full, readers can take the books to the Alma Elementary School office. They can also donate money to Emily Hess to buy books for the Little Library.
— Mayah Mumpower, @MayahMumpower
The Charger 
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