I've been to nearly 200 community book boxes…read morehttps://www.yelp.com/collection/DVNd563Dla7XRNKdWS1OCg/Community-Free-Libraries and I thought the one made from a British phone box was the best https://www.yelp.com/biz/little-free-library-new-market-2. Well, we have a new scale to measure from. What is it about things from the UK culture? This little library is a Doctor Who TARDIS (Totally Awesome Reading Dispensary In Society) and is super duper cool. It even has a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/TardisDetroit/ ! It stands on an otherwise empty lot in Detroit at Warren and Vermont. Open the outer doors and the inter doors to reveal shelves and shelves of books. Fiction, childrens, reference, all kinds. How darned cool! Allonsy! [Review 17960 overall - 356 in Michigan - 1481 of 2022.]

Located in front of the Grosse Pointe Memorial Church and complete with a cross on top of the…read morelibrary, this is a smaller Little Free Library but the concept is the same. Free books to take and enjoy. Bring a book if you have one you've already read. It's all about literacy and it's free. This library is a faded paint with a wooden roof. A single door with a clear panel and inside is a single shelf of books. A variety of nearly all paperbacks that are surprisingly not all religious books considering the location. Awesome. This is charter number 47999 and there is no steward or caption listed only other than "Henry." [Review 17972 overall - 365 in Michigan - 1493 of 2022.]

I organized a children's book drive at work in honor of Dolly Parton's birthday. I asked a friend…read morewho works in publishing and with local charities where the best place to donate books would be and Cleveland Kid's Book Bank was her top suggestion. CKBB has distributed over 4.8 million books to children in the area since 2016. While they do have a small team of employees they also have a lot of volunteers. I personally am very excited to volunteer here in the future. They have about 20 drop box locations in addition to their main location where the books are housed. I dropped off our donation of 425 books and they let me come inside and take a little look around and get a picture. They do have specific hours for drop off but if you call when you get there they will come out and take your donation.

This is an amazing organization which helps children in lower income families have access to books…read more I came here to volunteer for an evening. It's was super fun and easy. The people running it were friendly and passionate about helping the kids. I would suggest donating money, time or children's books to this place if you can! They are located in a Weat house building downtown and offer evening volunteering opportunities. Go check out their website and help some kids out this winter!

If you're headed to the beach, you'll want to stop here at this library located in Luna Pier's…read moreMemorial Park. It's hard to miss with the red trim on a wood box with shingles. A single door to lift and inside is the world. Not much today - some thrillers and fiction. All paperbacks. There's room in here for more books and I wish I hadn't already emptied my box from home or I would have added a bunch. This is charter number 45706 and the steward has their contact information online. The caption reads, "I built the library at our Summer home in Pembroke Maine and transported it back to Michigan. It is large, made 100% of cedar and heavily decorated. I am a retired Professor of Fine Arts and my Wife, Cheryl, who will act as Steward is a retired English Professor." [Review 17986 overall - 377 in Michigan - 1507 of 2022.]

What a fantastic place. When the only complaint I can think of for a place is it's too difficult…read morenot to spend too much money there it's pretty much a slam dunk for five stars. And the thing is most of the books here are very reasonably priced if not outright bargains. It might be heresy but I think I like the Northern iteration of John K King books more than the OG King store in downtown - and that too is five stars. With just one level and a layout nothing like the sprawling labyrinth of the flagship store, the Ferndale spin-off is much more manageable and browsable. Not too mention not as freezing in the winter or boiling in the summer. (I just gave my review of John K King South - now nine years old! - a quick reread and I was so reverential to that store I didn't even mention that. No crying in bookstores, I guess.) It's been far too long since I've been to JKKN. In fact I asked the sole employee tonight, wearing a bandana almost just like mine as a mask - I think his might have been midnight blue and not black - if they still had a cat. He told me no, that was before his time. I already figured it wouldn't be the same cat, but it's too bad that late feline doesn't have a successor. Bookstore cats are even more of a dying breed than old school indie bookstores like this. I came in for a cookbook or three, as it's embarrassing how little cooking knowledge and experience I have in my forties and I'm looking to step my game up. I ended up leaving with almost $70 worth of books, with a $5 2 disc DVD set of Cream in concert being part of that total. I got a John Waters hardcover memoir of hitchhiking for $8.50, well below the $26 cover price. I picked up the first collection of Walking Dead comics for $5.95, a big beautiful coffee table called Masters of American comics for $12, Academic Graffiti by W.H. Auden and some sports guidebooks from the 70s for my dad. Nothing local, St. Louis Blues, New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Flames, but they're wonderfully vintage. There were also a handful of books that tempted me mightily but some modicum of self control kept me from snatching up. A book about The Stooges, one about erotic comics and one about the Cannonball cross country race are still on the shelves waiting for a lucky patron to take them home. When I finished cashing out my bandana clad clerk asked me if I wanted a bag or a box. That dude knows what's up, as I had some serious weight in that stack. Now I got a nice old Xerox box when I get my purchases filed away. The North remembers!

This is the kind of place where quantity starts to struggle with quality. Lots of books and a lot…read moreof sections, but I personally haven't found a lot of great finds. When I came here, I spent more time and bought less than other bookstores in the area. The bookstore "smell" is like a 3/10, which means you know you're in a used bookstore when you walk in, although the inventory is all clean and well-maintained. Parking can be tight, but there are a few spots in front; otherwise, I've had to park on the side streets and walk in. Because this is a larger than normal used bookstore, they have some other items like ephemera and art and some distinct book sections you don't usually find in the smaller independent bookstores. The collectible and children's areas are quite lacking, and many filler titles help fill the store's shelves. The name is shared with the giant used book depository downtown, but this is a distinct shopping experience.

I would count your pages and add before checking out. If the total $ is off, ask the cashiers to…read moreverify page counts. I went to penny-a-page sale. You can't follow along with the cashier's page-count-price entering on a screen, so you have to take their word for it. Walking away I noticed she made a mistake. (See pic.) No big deal, people make mistakes. Song of Kali = 277pgs charged $5.54. I walked back in and showed the bearded greeter my receipt. He said "she made a mistake. You have to go to the back of the line." the line was about 15 customers long. The guy just shrugged. The store only had two registers open - out of four - on their big sale day. They had this guy greeting people instead of ringing up. He said he didn't have register access.

This is a huge and fantastic store. Mostly sells books but also musical instruments, comics, toys,…read moreetc. Love the blind date with a book section. Fair prices and love the buyback system. A nice quiet place to browse for as long as your heart desires.

Took lovely donation book box during hours posted on website. Heavy box on a 85 degree day. Door…read moreclosed, oh no! But guy inside opened door, yay! But NO. He would not allow the books inside. Huh??? There was a metal box in a breezeway that said donations. Ok so I placed books underneath so someone with some ambition could sort in the morning. Nope, guy comes out and says I am littering. Took books to Goodwill. Don't know what was up with this apparently lazy man. Won't donate again despite being a generous patron over the years.

My son loves coming here. He like the natural playground, honey bees and feeding the fish in the…read moregeodome. We always bring a dollar so he can pick out a few books too.

I'm not even sure where to begin. The owner sure knows what to say to make you believe this place…read moreis magical when deciding to send your child here. It's very quickly you realize after that it's not going to be the case. Don't send your child here unless you want to be nit-picked to death. Our FIRST problem started with a stye my son got on his eye and she made me bother the doctor for 3 doctors notes for, all saying the exact same thing with different wording, she just likes to make you jump thru hoops for her own fun. Next was my son not being fond of the taste of her tap water, and us making a simple request to send him with bottled water instead to which she told us we would then no longer get all of our snacks and meals included (which we pay for in the HEFTY monthly tuition) over WATER. I'm sorry for wanting to make sure our child is hydrated. You will be bombarded by emails miles long. She likes her "rules" one of those being not to take "too long" to say goodbye to your child. And by her standards in and out in her own "5 minutes time" simply is still too much time. Even tho you have a list of things they expect you as the parent to do before you may leave, answer 10 covid questions, temperature check, wash hands, take off coat but don't dare take a minute to say goodbye to your emotional 4 year old before you leave for the day. Apparently coming from a loving home is a punishment. That was our final straw. Oh and enjoy constantly having her throw up removing you for any and every LITTLE thing. This woman makes mountains out of mole hills. I'm convinced she only wants to keep security deposits and that's why she literally makes you want to leave the place. On our last day she ran down former employees making insane accusations about them. She ran down past parents (to which I'm sure we have joined the club) and set me up to "feel bad for her" so that I would be quiet and let go a situation that should've never happened in the first place. don't even get me started on how she kept our belongings for two weeks after we left instead of giving them to us on our last day. Again making you jump through the most absurd hoops. So parents beware. She is short staffed, and seems to be running a day care not a preschool since her toddler teacher has now left. So glad to be off this roller coaster and in a much kinder, considerate and compassionate place!

Rebecca's Learning Center (RLC) was a distasteful experience for me. One of the early red flags was…read morethe fact that, even though the parking is limited, there is a strict 10 minute drop off allowance. If you miss your assigned window, you were instructed to call RLC and you were given a new drop-off time frame after everyone else, which could be over an hour later. I have a 3 year old, who may not be as cooperative in the morning as an adult, and I work in the hospital setting; I can't be late... this was very stressful! Interaction with the owner Becky, also caused heightened stress. I felt I was always walking on eggshells with her and knew I had to agree with all new policies and procedures or my child would be removed. I felt as if I could never even engage in an open dialogue regarding any concern or issue. This included, when the staff wrongly communicated Michigan State law regarding children and their course of antibiotics. Another glaring red flag was/is the overall health policy that requires an absolute 24-hour symptom free child. Any little sneeze or cough required the child to be excluded from RLC; we are talking about toddlers and young children. More than once, we were instructed to pick our child up due to sniffles that had suddenly developed within the first hour of arrival at RLC. I expressed concern regarding the upcoming allergy season as my child suffers from seasonal allergies. During our time at RLC, there were many blatant red flags, I could go on for pages. The bombardment of paperwork that required initialing and or an email response indicating comprehension and agreement, was never ending. As a working parent, in all honesty, I did not have time to thoroughly read and question each new rule. I needed daycare for my child. There appears to me to be an underlying hostile interconnection with parents. In addition to the massive late night, chaotic emails which required careful reading and investigation to determine the actual purpose, our child was dismissed without cause hours before we expected RLC to provide daycare. There was no phone call from Becky. We were instructed to communicate through the attorney and not expect our personal property to be returned to us for 2 weeks, again through the attorney. My experience makes me wonder, if Rebecca's Learning Center is truly the caring, award winning environment it proclaims to be, shouldn't that carry over to parent relationships as well? I would stay far away from this daycare/preschool, this stress was overwhelming.