CINCINNATI — Cincinnati reached a milestone for childhood literacy Thursday as the Queen City Book Bank celebrated the opening of its 250th Little Free Library in Avondale.
The newest library is hosted by Connie Harris, a former librarian and advocate for community literacy who works with Reading Bears, an Avondale group helping children discover books.
"I have wanted one for a long time, and when they called and said I could have one and said it was the 250th, my excitement really went up," said Harris.
The initiative provides free books to under-resourced elementary students across Cincinnati, allowing more than 4,000 children in 20 schools to receive 10 brand-new books each year.
"This little free library symbolizes not only just connecting them with books, but also with one another, and Connie is a wonderful representative for this 250th Little Free Library," said Michelle Otten Guenther, CEO of the Queen City Book Bank. "Not only is she a former librarian, but she also is very active in her community, cares about kids, cares about reading."
Watch as Harris and community members celebrate the little library's opening:
The libraries operate on a simple principle: community members can take a book or leave one, creating a sustainable cycle of reading materials for neighborhood children.
Queen City Book Bank highlighted how the initiative focuses on early childhood development.
"Our organization really doubles down on those critical years so that we know that kids who read early are going to have future success in all areas of life, and so we're grateful that this corner of our community now has this special box to not only just read books, but to connect with neighbors like Connie," said Otten Guenther.
The milestone represents not just access to books, but also strengthening community connections through literacy.
"The ones you get from the Little Free Library are yours to keep or to share. I encourage everybody to share their free library books. One piece of advice I have we can call deer, which is once a day, every day, drop everything and read," said Harris.
You can find a Little Free Library near you here.
