Always Take a Banana to a Party

If your first reaction when I say "Doctor Who" is to check your insurance's approved list of providers, one of us needs to get out a little more often. Hopefully, I'm kidding. It's a wildly successful long running television series that made headlines a couple of weeks ago it was announced that Jodie Whittaker would be the first woman Time Lord.

You're scratching your head. So did I, until I looked it up and read about the show. I visited my local library, though in this case, I'm not just talking about the Otis Library in downtown Norwich but also Kristin's Little Tardis Library between Bean Hill and Norwichtown at 15  Wawecus Street, tucked into the parking lot of America's Best Defense (ABD) Martial Arts. 

It was created by Kristin McShane and is housed in a sort of 1960's London police box, called a Tardis, which was a present from her husband, Charlie, and a story all by itself but speaking of stories, it's crammed with them, and all kinds: mysteries, histories, adventures, to name a few genres, all kinds of books. They are there for the taking and leaving. Seriously. That's what it says, you can see it for yourself when you visit, "Take a Book, Leave a Book." 

Kristin's Little Tardis Library, is the Norwich version of Little Free Libraries which come in all shapes and sizes and are spread across the country whose mission statement, "Building Community, Sparking Creativity, Inspiring Readers" to me, echoes an early Doctor Who quote, "You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! The best weapons in the world!" 

The Tardis landed just a little more than a year ago and has been a top destination for readers of all ages from the start. Fueled by donations of books from many of the students at the martial arts school, her original focus was on attracting youngsters to books because so often their time is taken up with computers and other electronic devices.

She has had a life-long passion for reading that she hopes to share with everyone whose path she crosses, and has enjoyed swapping books for almost as long as she's enjoyed reading them. 

The Tardis is always open and don't let the outside fool you about what is in store for you inside. There are books everywhere but there's a place for everything and everything is in its proper place. If you wonder who is a typical customer, look in the mirror and you'll have an idea, though the biggest number of readers are fans of kids’ books, especially for ages 8-11, and especially during the summer months. 

Almost as popular is the beginner reading books for Pre-kindergarten through first graders. And there's ample adult reading material as well so you can treat yourself.

Think of the Tardis as your gateway to wherever. As the 11^th Doctor Who once said, “The universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles.”
-bill kenny