British Bright Red Bookshelves

A few weeks ago on the blog, I posted about the Bookshelves hosted by MRC members in Duluth and Grand Rapids (I’m interested in hearing how it’s all going, by the way). These were started in Minnesota by Project Read in Grand Rapids, and before that, by The Bright Red Bookshelf sponsored by the Family Reading Partnership in Ithaca, NY. Are you following so far?

Well, the bookshelf trend is spreading even more. I’m not sure if this is inspired by one of these bookshelves or if it is a complete coincidence, but here is another creative example from the U.K., posted in “The Guardian”. Now in addition to the BRBs in Minnesota, there's a British Bright Red Bookshelf - is that a BrBRB?

Villagers in Westbury-sub-Mendip saved a classic red phone booth by turning it into a mini library, complete with a “silence please” sign and everything. It’s maintained by the people who use it and stocked with books from Charles Dickens to Roald Dahl.

The article mentions suggestions for saving other phone booths, but doesn’t say anything about turning others into libraries. Personally, I think the community bookshelves are awesome and hope that this is a trend that will catch on all over.