MANSFIELD — A “free little library” is popping up soon on the square in Mansfield. The library will go up outside First United Methodist Church and be filled with free books for readers of all ages.
Dalton Riley recently completed the project as part of his studies in the construction and building trades program at Mansfield Senior High School. Riley is also working on a miniature free little library to place outside Third Street Family Health Services.
The Tyger Book Barn was commissioned by the Altrusa International of Mansfield.
Altrusa co-president Sally Gesouras said the chapter will regularly monitor the library and add more books as needed. The chapter has already secured 450 books.
“Literacy affects everything. Literacy affects how people live, work, play,” Gesouras said. “And I think it’s something a lot of people take for granted.”
Riley completed the project, dubbed the Tyger Book Barn, with help from instructor Greg Morris and fellow senior Chadalyn Whitmore.
Morris said Riley completed the lion’s share of the work last school year with some assistance from his teacher and classmates. Riley and Whitmore decorated the library over the summer, painting tiger stripes on the side and a tiger head logo on the front.
“I’m really creative and I have fun doing things like this,” Riley said. “It feels really good just knowing that other children can get books out of it and read.”
The Tyger Book Barn will be installed sometime in the next two weeks – as soon as Altrusa volunteers can find a truck and willing hands to move it.
Riley followed blueprints provided by Morris to build the structure. He used a utility knife and dremel tool to cut on the tiger emblem on the front.
Although the book barn is about 6-by-3 feet, Morris said the project was “deceptively hard” and required the same precision as larger endeavors.
“All these principles are the same principles you’re going to use on a shed or a house,” he explained. “They’re transferable.”
Making the book barn allowed Riley and other students to practice flooring, framing, installing exterior siding and exterior trim, building shelves and roofing.
As with all projects, students sometimes had to go back and correct a mistake. Morris welcomes those mistakes as part of the process.
“For them to go through the process of ‘Oh I got the framing just a little bit wrong’ and then have to correct it … this shop has to be a place where kids make mistakes because that’s where you learn,” he said. “They’re making mistakes all the time and we go back and say, ‘Okay, what does it take to fix them?’”
The little free library isn’t the only project in the program with a real-world application. Students are also building picnic tables for other buildings in the district and a tiny house complete with a fully functioning kitchen and bathroom.
Nikia Fletcher, the district’s director of college and career readiness, said the Tyger Book Barn collaboration goes beyond providing real-world experience for students. It also supports one of the district’s primary goals for the future — enhancing literacy.
“This is a little bit far down the line, but it’s wonderful for me to see our students contributing to such a big part of our strategic plan,” she said.
“I can’t wait to ride past it so I can point it out to families — ‘See what my kids did?’ because I’m very proud of their work.”
