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Books taking to the beach

The Town of Qualicum Beach and the Qualicum Beach Library have teamed up to offer Beach Reads
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Patricia Huntsman (left) and Eileen Gillette invite people to exchange a good summer read on Qualicum Beach.

Summer is here and what's better than reading a free book by the beach?

The Town of Qualicum Beach and the Qualicum Beach Library have teamed up to offer Beach Reads, a free, take-a-book, leave-a-book program for the summer.

"I've seen it work in other communities and it seemed like a great idea," said Patricia Huntsman, cultural development and communication consultant for the Town of Qualicum Beach, who took the idea to library manager Eileen Gillette.

Three bookcases — designed to look like birdhouses — are now located along the beach: one near the visitor's centre, one near the Brant viewing area and a shorter one for children's books by the Beach Hut.

Gillette said she chose books with summer beach reading in mind, selecting mysteries, romances and other mass-market, pop-fiction books and magazines that were taken out of the library system.

They are available for tourists and residents to enjoy throughout the summer and though they hope people will also leave some fun books to help continue a sort of community conversation, they do not have to leave one to take one.

With the bookcases built and installed by the town and the books provided by the library, the women hope the cooperative project is a nice addition to the global free lending community.

Beach Reads will be available until the end of September. Call 250-752-6121 or stop by for more information.