Only In Kansas: Town Makes Child Remove Little Free Library

On Mother's Day, May 11, 9-year old Spencer Collins decided to put up a little free library in his yard for the neighborhood, including such classics as Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Roald Dahl’s The BFG.

Spencer, a resident of Leawood, Kansas (a suburb of Kansas City) loves reading and wanted to share that love with the neighborhood.

"It's kind of like I'm in a whole other world and I like that," he said. "I like adventure stories because I'm in the adventure and it's fun," he told KMBC

However, he was in for another kind of adventure:

"When we got home from vacation, there was a letter from the city of Leawood saying that it was in code violation and it needed to be down by the 19th or we would receive a citation," said Spencer's mother, Sarah Collins.

Leawood said the little house is an accessory structure. The city bans buildings that aren't attached to someone's home.

The response from the city as been basically "Even though we like the little libraries, we have to treat everyone the same, and if someone complains, we have to enforce it, we can't ignore it"

The city says it received two complaints.

Only in Kansas would someone complain about a little free library. I guess book-learnin' is too librul.

Spencer isn't taking this lying down, though. He's going to take it to City Hall and is researching ways and means to keep his library up for all to use.

"I would tell them why it's good for the community and why they should drop the law," he said. "I just want to talk to them about how good it is."

He's also getting creative. One of his thoughts was to "tie a rope around it and attach the rope to the house".

He also has a Facebook page dedicated to his cause.

And here's the kicker:

Several surrounding cities also have little libraries. Prairie Village told KMBC 9's Haley Harrison that the city simply doesn't enforce codes that would restrict little free libraries. (emphasis mine)

So I'm wondering who "complained".

Anyway, Kansas City area Kossacks, let's help Spencer out and get his little free library back out in his yard.

SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE: From the comments:

Changing the rule will be (6+ / 0-)

up for consideration at the next Leawood city council meeting, July 7 according to an editorial in the Kansas City Star.

Leawood should drop rules that prohibit lending libraries in front yards

Light is seen through a small hole.

by houyhnhnm on Mon Jun 23, 2014 at 02:01:13 PM CDT