Baltimore’s radical street librarian, Storybook Maze, received some unwelcome news after the Valentine’s Day weekend. Someone has stolen “Lil Red,” the little free library that she and others helped install in outside a salon in northwest Baltimore’s Park Heights neighborhood. In O ctober, Ms. Maze teamed up with Ari Winfield, who owns Shears of an Artist, a salon in Park Heights. The area is considered by many to be a “book desert,” where children struggle to find access to books. They used the salon’s community space and Ms. Maze’s large collection of curated books to bring this five-shelf mini-library resembling a red London phone booth to the children of the area. View this post on Instagram There has not been a branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library in Park Heights for more than two decades, with the nearest branch located about 2 miles up Reisterstown Road. Officials broke ground last summer on what will become a brand new 18,000-square-foot branch Park Heights Library, but it is not slated to open until fall 2027. Maze and Winfield hoped their Lil Red might help fill the literary gap for the time being. “Ari always wanted her salon to be really a community hub, where they don’t just do hair, but it’s a place where kids can gather, and there’s a lot of kids next door, at the park right there,” Maze told Baltimore Fishbowl. Winfield’s salon is adjacent to Lucille Park and The Saints Field, where many kids play youth sports. They wanted the library to be eye-catching and put a lot of work into weatherizing and installing it so it would stay appealing and solid in the ground. They also did all the landscaping, including the stone pathway leading up to and surrounding Lil Red. “We just wanted to be very inviting,” Maze said. “And we know that that community hasn’t had a little free library, so they didn’t know what it was or how it worked. So that’s why we just wanted to be super inviting, as we were still teaching the community how to use it, … What a lending community library is, how it works.” Maze had spent Valentine’s Day on the Baltimore Metro bringing her cart of free books to people on the subway, matching strangers with books they might love. View this post on Instagram Two days later, she heard the disheartening news from Winfield, and she announced on social media that Lil Red had been stolen. Storybook Maze on Threads. Maze and Winfield have been encouraged by response to the news and the outpouring of support. She said they are definitely “rebuild-minded” and continuing to ignore the people who warn her about putting a little free library in a book desert. “We really wanted to have faith that it wasn’t going to happen, and now that it has, we’re definitely disappointed,” Maze said. “But we’re thinking of other ways so that what one person’s bad actions doesn’t ruin it for everybody in the community, because most people, obviously were using it perfectly. Most people were being generous and taking care of it, and it was in good condition still.” In fact, Maze said that Daniel Gumnit, CEO of Little Free Library, reached out to them and will send them something to put there temporarily or to keep inside the salon, so that the children will still have books to read in the meantime. “Ms. Maze is a true literacy champion in her community, and I was honored to serve alongside her on a panel at the Open Books, Open Minds conference,” Gumnit told Baltimore Fishbowl. “When we learned that her book-sharing box had been taken, we immediately knew we wanted to replace it with a new Little Free Library so she could continue putting books into the hands of children and families.” “But Lil Red has such character, we really want the telephone booth back,” Maze said. “She brought in so many readers. She was bright red, and so many kids would just come and try to see what that is.” Supporters have suggested they replace Lil Red with a “Big Red,” a bigger booth made of steel, and drill it into the ground to make it harder to remove. Maze said she is so appreciative of the support she has received from Gumnit and her book-loving supporters. She is determined not to give up on this book desert community. “Recent research conducted with The Education Foundation of Baltimore County Public Schools shows that access to books through Little Free Libraries meaningfully influences children’s reading habits,” Gumnit said. “Leaders like Ms. Maze are helping make that impact possible.” ...read more read less