Nikki Leali, 8, known as the Little Librarian, has as many as 100 people a day visit her own “Free Little Library” to borrow books. The Garden District homeschooler says that Junie B. Jones, The Magic Treehouse, and Rainbow Magic Princess Fairies are among the most popular books she’s stocked.
This Saturday, Global Youth Service day, Nikki will hold her 2nd annual Little Free Library book donation/exchange event. Stop by Holly Grove Market and Farm on Saturday anytime from 12-3 pm to donate your gently used grown-up, young adult or children’s books—paperbacks and hardbacks are welcome—or take a book. At last year’s drive, she collected 1,900 books for her library and other “Free Little Libraries” across the city.
While Nikki is the top librarian of her Free Little Library, she gets a lot of help from her twin sister Josie, older sister Jenna, 11, and her parents, Joelle and Robert. Not surprisingly, Nikki loves to read, and of course she donates books from her own personal collection when she is through with them. So what are the Little Librarian’s favorite books, you wonder? It’s Raining Cupcakes and the Recipe for Adventure series.