- April 18, 2024
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When rounding the third curve on Boulder Rock Drive in Palm Coast, passersby can spot a handmade bookshelf in a yard. With a plastic cover on its front and a pot of flowers nailed to the top, the bookcase is filled with more than 50 books.
All it takes to see it is a quick glance to the yard of house number 107, but if you're not looking, you could miss it.
Margaret Dubrow, who has lived in Palm Coast for five years, is spreading her passion for reading by operating the free library, which she created on July 5, 2017. She built the bookcase with the help of her boyfriend in a few hours, but she said it needs some touch ups soon, as a year of rain has worn the lettering.
She added that her yard was the perfect spot for a free library since a school bus stops at the intersection of Boulder Rock Drive and Botany Lane, right across the street.
Dubrow has seen about 15 different people take a book or drop off a few themselves.
"They all like it," she said. "They say it's really nice. It's different — that's what they like about it."
With a variety of genres ranging from cookbooks to romance novels to men's magazines, the library can appeal to many audiences. She added that children's books seem to fly off the shelf the fastest.
"I read a lot," Dubrow said. "I've seen it where there are a lot of kids who don't have money to go get books, or someone doesn't take them to the library, so I thought, 'Well, lets put it there.'"
She said parents who saw the bookcase while waiting at the bus stop have even dropped books off themselves to add to the collection.
"It's for anyone to enjoy," Dubrow said. "I think there should be more like that because there are people who want to read who haven't gotten the opportunity."
