- February 25, 2026
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Beside a neighborhood playground at Bob Gardner Community Park, a small wooden box, built and designed to blend in with its surroundings, attracts the attention of a father and daughter.
Greg Losi, who was visiting from Buffalo, New York, said he first noticed a Little Free Library at James Patton Park last year and couldn’t wait to read to his 2-year-old daughter, Genevieve, when he saw another at Bob Gardner Park. For the Losis, reading is a huge part of their lives and part of their bedtime routine.
“Accessibility is key to learning in general and with both parents working, time is always a crunch,” Losi said. “Something like this hits two birds with one stone. We get to enjoy some physical activity, but there's also the educational side to fit in.”
Losi was especially impressed because he doesn’t pack a lot of books when traveling. He is grateful to be within walking distance of his own library back home, but is happy for the locals that they have Little Free Libraries around for easier access.
Those libraries would not be possible without the 15-member club that puts them together and keeps them stocked.
“When a parent says to a child, ‘Do you want to go to the library or do you want to go to the park,’ they're going to say park,” said Candy DeLazzer, a member of the club.
Elizabeth Henderson, the founder and president of the Little Free Library Club in Lakewood Ranch, began the group in 2023. Since then they have created five libraries, which are located at Bob Gardner Community Park, Country Club East Park, Greenbook Adventure Park, James L. Patton Park, and Waterside Park.
Jane Hussar joined the club after seeing it posted by Henderson on Facebook. She sponsors the library at Country Club East Park. She goes to the library every week to make sure the library is full and tidy. She said she was raised to serve the church, neighborhood, and community, and is glad to do her part through the library.
“The importance of this is showing students, children, families, and grandparents about the importance of reading and how you don't have to spend a lot of money on a book,” Hussar said. “You can get them free in the community and share the joy of reading. All of our libraries are successful.”
Candy DeLazzer said the idea is to take and return the books but that’s not always how it works.
“If they take them and want to keep them, that's fine,” Candy said. “That means that the book connects with them somehow.”
She said reading is the basis of all learning whether it be for math, history or any other subject.
“If we can get children into reading early and get them to love reading, then half of the battle of a teacher is done,” Candy DeLazzer said. “It carries over into everything.”
Out of the five current libraries, four of them were built by Faust DeLazzer. DeLazzer joined the club along with his wife, Candy, and they are both retired educators. Candy DeLazzer taught English while Faust DeLazzer taught science.
When the club needed someone to build the libraries, Faust was willing to do it with no prior experience “flying by the seat of his pants.” He said it takes about 10 hours to build one library and he sees every imperfection but also feels a sense of pride.
“I had a couple failures to start, but then got the hang of it,” Faust DeLazzer said. “It was trial and error, just like science.”
Candy DeLazzer said with the increase in technology, it's important for young kids to utilize their imagination and to picture the story in their minds as they're reading.
“What we need more and more are creative thinkers,“ Candy DeLazzer said. “if all they do is consume everything that comes from the internet or TikTok or whatever, they don't engage their imagination and their creativity.”
“Nothing can take away the importance of a book, and it's great to see a child with their nose in a book instead of the iPad,” Hussar said. “No matter how fancy we get with technology, books will always be around.”
The club is run by volunteers and relies on donations from the public to keep the libraries stocked. There is especially a need for children’s books as those tend to be the first to go.
Henderson said in the spring of 2025, she sent out email inquiries to all elementary and middle schools in Lakewood Ranch to see if anyone had any books they no longer needed. She got a response from Gene Witt Elementary.
"When all was said and done, the Gene Witt teachers had donated approximately 3,500 books from their personal classroom collections," Henderson said. "We had almost been depleted of kids' chapter books and this one donation has kept our Little Free Libraries full for almost a year."
The club meets the second Monday of each month at 10 a.m. at Town Hall North with the occasional field trip, activity or party to open a new library. At the meetings, they discuss which libraries might need to be stocked or repaired. They also discuss the plans for future locations. The DeLazzers and Hussar hope they can get one installed on Lakewood Main Street.
“That's such a populated area, and it would get books into the hands of more people,” Hussar said.
“Our club welcomes interested residents to join us at an upcoming monthly meeting,” Henderson said. “We will soon start the planning phases for our sixth library installment so this is a great time to jump on board.”
