For more than a decade, Sharalee Armitage Howard watched in dismay as the grand cottonwood tree in front of her Idaho home plopped dead branches on her flower gardens and sidewalk.
Then came the last straw: a large branch from the dying, 110-year-old tree tumbled onto her son's car, causing several hundred dollars in damage.
It was time to cut it down before it toppled in a storm.
But Howard, a book lover who works at her local library in Coeur d'Alene, felt an attachment to the tree. She wanted to give it a new life. She had no idea her creation would not only become the talk of her neighborhood, it would fly across the internet on social media, reaching people around the world.
Howard designed a Pinterest-worthy Little Free Library that looks like the home of a family of magical elves. The converted stump-turned-book-offering is complete with stone steps leading to a tiny glass French door, a hanging lantern, shelves and a peaked roof. The top of the door is dotted with tiny wooden replicas of books such as "The Grapes of Wrath," "Nancy Drew" and "Little Women."
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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