BOOK PEDALLERS
Literature-loving pair take words to the street with chain-driven, eco-friendly lending library,
Madeleine Curry and Sarah Beaudin’s books cover a lot of ground.
In the summer, they cycle the streets of Toronto with 18 kilograms of books in tow. The titles find their way from their bikes to the hands of readers in city parks. In the winter, the volumes live in the cosy confines of a neighbourhood bar, where the pair leave a small library and host a monthly reading series. Sometimes the volumes end up back in Curry and Beaudin’s Book Bike, which they describe as “a mobile lending library.” The library is a blue box made of found wood. It’s installed on a bike trailer Curry and Beaudin haul on vintage bicycles. They set up shop at events and a different west-end park every summer weekend and into the fall, unfolding the box into a mini library and handing out books to whoever approaches.
While their third Book Bike season ended in October, Curry and Beaudin decided it was time to share the books beyond their west-end stomping grounds. The two are taking the winter to expand the project and secure funding so they can expand to more neighbourhoods. That would help them build at least one new box, this time made with a lighter aluminum frame. The ultimate goal, Beaudin says, is to build five of them — “an entire fleet . . . because dream big, even though we are a very, very small company.”
Next time around, they’d like to get books in the hands of people “who haven’t necessarily had the chance to enjoy them.”
The project is novel in Toronto, but its appeal isn’t. This book-crazy city has 100 libraries and two bookmobiles — vans operated by the Toronto Public Library. The bike librarians say they were inspired by the Little Free Libraries that dot dozens of front lawns in the city. Though not affiliated with the library, their initiative is part of a movement to get people to read the physical in a world enamoured by the virtual.
There’s no membership card, no return policy, no late fees — you can grab a book free. If you can’t give it back right away, that’s fine, but don’t shelve it, Curry says. “Please return this book when you’re finished . . . or pass it on to someone else!” a sticker inside reads. At the end of the day, it doesn’t really matter to the two cyclists where the books end up. They also suggest donating books to a Little Free Library or replacing them with a different book.
“We’re more excited about just getting the books out there,” she said.
Sometimes the books disappear, such as this summer, when they left a free library at The Central, a bar on Markham St. near Bloor.
When they went back a few weeks ago, the shelves were still full. But “none of them were the books that we’d originally dropped off,” Curry said, “which is fantastic, because it means that people are actually using that service, unbeknownst to us.”
The books come from donations of all kinds — stores, friends, publish- ers, their own collections and fluke exchanges, like those at the Central.
“We’ve got non-fiction, fiction, YA (young adult) books, some in foreign languages,” Beaudin said.
They try to be inclusive. For example, when they go to Christie Pits in Koreatown, they make sure to take Korean-language books.
They store their “116 gallons of books” in an outdoor bin on Beaudin’s deck.
Curry and Beaudin came up with the idea in 2013 after they founded a not-for-profit called Meat Locker Editions, which helps young authors get published. Beaudin says simply, “books changed my life” — and not just back in childhood; she and Curry met while “scrubbing the floors of a meat locker” — where their nonprofit’s name comes from — that was to become the office of the publishing company they worked for.
The motivation behind the Book Bike is apparently simple: “Honestly, if you’ve ever found something that you’re happy about doing, there’s not always a ton of reason behind it except that it makes other people happy,” Beaudin said.
Like when a woman spotted Stuart Little in the box. “She remembered loving that book as a little girl, and she picked it up for her granddaughter,” Curry remembered. “(It’s) that kind of idea, to remind people about why they love reading and what books can do.”
They also want to create awareness about the literary arts, Curry says. “Taking it to parks is our way of doing that.”
“We’re more excited about just getting the books out there.”
MADELEINE CURRY
BOOK BIKE CO-FOUNDER