It started out as a whim. Arelene Willcocks of Kennydale saw a blurb on TV about a book exchange stand. Then she saw a similar ad in a magazine for the same mini-library.

“I thought that that was such a good idea,” said Willcocks, remembering the first man who built one in memory of his mother, a teacher.

Willcocks enlisted the help of her husband, Dan, who works with wood as a hobby and away they went. What they created was a mini-library that looks like an elaborate bird house, perched at the end of their driveway. They filled it with their books and passed out flyers at a home owners association event. With the phrase ‘Take a book; Leave a book,’ above the door, people in the neighborhood can come swap out books as they wish.

“It kinda goes in streaks sometimes,” said Willcocks. “This street happens to have a lot of walkers and I was told that our street’s the most gradual as far as a hill.”

The Willcocks have lived in the same Kennydale house for 44 years and watched the blackberry bushes around them turn into prime real estate properties. Their Kennydale Book Exchange has mysteries, dramas and even kids’ books, which they buy from the Goodwill or St. Vincent de Paul.

“It’s been really fun to have that and see people stop and go through it,” Willcocks said. “And we put a bench out there last year, I think. We get people who just sit there and sometimes they’re just taking a rest on the way up the hill, but sometimes they’re looking at books.”