If you visit Old Neighborhood Grill, 1633 Park Place Ave., it's hard to miss the Little Free Library kiosk at the curb. It's part of a movement that began in Madison, Wis., to encourage reading by letting neighbors swap books free - take one, leave one.
Zack Shlachter and Jim Peipert built this particular kiosk as a small memorial to Zack's mom, Amrita Shlachter, a freelance writer who died last December of a brain tumor. Amrita was the wife of Star-Telegram business writer Barry Shlachter. Peipert retired from the newspaper after a career that included serving as the paper's national and foreign editor.
"Zack had the idea and asked me to help because we're old family friends and because I have a small workshop and some tools," Peipert tells us. "Zack approached Peter Schroeder of Old Neighborhood Grill, who was delighted with the idea. Mike Brennan of Fort Worth South, which was involved with the reworking of that part of Park Place, got the contractors to install the Little Free Library," Peipert said. - Paul K. Harral
