The avid bookworm built and painted a cupboard, using plywood and sample pots of paint, and attached it to her front fence in Kirwee.
Residents have responded en masse, following the evocative message on the side: “Take a book, leave a book, keep one or return one.”
Vis said she had always wanted a pretty mail box, but Kirwee didn’t have mail boxes.
The village is serviced by post office boxes at the local garage.
So she decided to make the cupboard instead, with the idea of it being a little library.
“It’s the first thing I have ever built all by myself, it’s a bit wonky for that reason. It’s not fallen off the fence yet, so that’s the main thing,” Vis said.
Vis said reading had been a connecting and sharing force in her own family.
About three years ago she was temporarily homeschooling her daughter Sofia, with a mostly literature-based curriculum.
“We read and read, I just love books, I like sharing what books we like.”
Vis opened her Kirwee Community Little Library one year ago, and hundreds of books have come and gone from its shelves since.
It has become so popular she has had to build another cupboard underneath for children’s books. Last month she asked people to limit their donations of adult books to just two, as so many books were coming in.
“It’s quite private where it is, I can’t see how many people are using it. But judging by the books that turn up in there, I think we are at least getting three to four users a day, which is pretty amazing for a small community,” Vis said.
“It’s like Christmas looking for new books and seeing what people have put in, it’s really exciting.”
Her favourite book of recent times is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn, while her favourite book of all time is The Boy In the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne.
