Last spring, a neighbor brought over a USA TODAY article about Little Free Library and said, “You look like people who would want to do this,” Pelton recalled the neighbor saying. They used material from their home renovation, including cabinet doors for the sides and tin for the roof. Pelton makes wind chimes out of silverware, so she affixed some utensils to the sides. They included a small blue spiral-bound notebook for people to write messages.

For years, Holly Pelton required her children to spend time every afternoon reading or resting.

Usually they read.

Now, all three — Miller, a high school freshman, Maggie, a seventh-grader and Miles, a fourth-grader — don’t need a requirement to lose themselves in a book.

So it seemed a natural for the family to erect a small library in their front yard for anyone to take a book or leave a book or bring one back.

The Peltons are one of several families in the Greenville area that are part of the Little Free Library program started in 2009 by two men in Wisconsin. It has spread to cities in every state in the country and to other countries as well.

It’s a simple idea. Accumulate scrap lumber. Build a box. The official ones are 20 inches wide, 20 inches deep and 28 inches tall. Fill it with books. Watch people flock.

“It’s been a fun way to get to know our neighbors,” Pelton said.

When Corey Pelton was named pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Travelers Rest, the family bought a house on Summit Drive in the North Main area.