Kids headed to the Bittner Park playground now have a new way to have fun: A Little Free Library has been set up at the park. What makes this particular library unique is that it was set up to honor the memory of beloved Guilford Public School employee Bonnie Lamberton.

Lamberton was a familiar face around Guilford, especially in the school system. She worked for many years as an administrator at Guilford High School and before that as a paraprofessional. Lamberton died in September 2020.

Heather Hedberg, whose daughter Amy is married to Lamberton’s son Dan, decided that the building of a Little Free Library would be a perfect way to remember Bonnie Lamberton.

The Little Free Library is a non-profit organization that supplies people with books to read for free through small wooden structures containing donated books. According to its website, littlefreelibrary.org, “A Little Free Library is a ‘take a book, return a book’ free book exchange. They come in many shapes and sizes, but the most common version is a small wooden box of books. Anyone may take a book or bring a book to share.”

There are several of the structures around Guilford and the neighboring shoreline towns. What makes the Bittner location unique is that the Hedberg and Lamberton families wanted to stock the books with books aimed at kids.

By having mostly children’s books in the Bittner library, Hedberg said she sees it as another way to honor Lamberton’s memory. Dan and Amy now have two daughters of their own, and Hedberg said that reading to her grandkids was something she knows Lamberton would have cherished.

“Bonnie obviously would love to read to her own granddaughters, so I wanted to do something for kids especially,” said Hedberg.

“If we could get word out here maybe we could get more books donated up there,” said Hedberg. “I thought it might be nice to have a library for the kids,” she added.

Hedberg said her family along with the Lamberton family have already stocked it with some books and noticed that some are gone, meaning the library has had some use.

“Hopefully it will catch on and be a success and be open for a long time,” said Hedberg.

The library officially opened on in early August. Hedberg said that Park & Recreation Director Rick Maynard and the Park & Recreation Commission were “instrumental” in getting the library set up.

“I really thank them for getting it going,” said Hedberg.