DOWAGIAC — The newest Little Free Library to be unveiled at 312 Oak St., Dowagiac is being fostered by not just one family, but two.

On Monday, a Dr. Seuss-themed Little Free Library that channeled the book, “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” was surrounded by two families, both whom promised to constantly stock the library with books.

The library also served as a memorial for Heather Nash, who died in December 2018. Nash served as a principal of Patrick Hamilton Elementary School. The painting on the Little Free Library matches the theme of the book, as it inspires children to reach higher, said the families.

The Pokagon Fund awarded a grant to the Little Free Libraries program to install 12 libraries throughout the three wards of Dowagiac. The Pokagon Fund is funded by the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians. As new libraries are unveiled, new partnerships between the designers and stewards are created.

Lori Weller and her daughter, Maggie, saw the contest for the Little Free Libraries through a Facebook post and wanted to participate in helping the community. They picked out the Dr. Seuss  theme and worked on the project together.

“We came up with Dr. Seuss because it’s whimsical, and we thought we could relate it back to reading,” Lori said. “I had a lot of Dr. Seuss books as kids, but we really went around and around about what we were going to pick. It was hard.”

“Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” is also a memorable book for many children, Maggie, an eighth grader at Dowagiac Middle School said.

The mother-daughter duo lives in the Sister Lakes area and needed to find a home for their Little Free Library.

That home ended up being in Monica and Keith Jr. Luke’s front yard on Oak Street. Now, the newest Little Free Library is located across the street from Justus Gage Elementary School.

The Lukes are both graduates of Dowagiac Union High School, and Monica teaches at Buchanan Middle School. After teaching sixth-grade English for years, Monica now teaches seventh-grade social studies. During her years of teaching English, she saw the positive impact reading had on her students.

Before the Lukes were approached by Bobbie Jo Hartline to help foster a Little Free Library, the couple had an idea of their own to submit an application in the Little Free Library contest. They wanted to create a Little Free Library that would be placed in their yard and also serve as Pokémon Go spot. Pokémon Go is a smartphone app that allows users to act as Pokémon trainers and catch Pokémon.

“We were just joking about it, and then honestly a week later, Bobbie Jo called and asked, ‘Do you want to be a Little Free Library?’” Monica said. “I was so honored to have it.”

The colorful library, which was just installed last week, has already received lots of attention from both families. The first night it was installed, the Wellers stopped by the Luke’s home to stock up the library.

“We had multiple people that were our friends dropping off books, and it was so amazing,” Monica said.

The group’s goal is to have to continually refill the library each night with new books. Monica’s cousin is also a teacher at Justus Gage and is hoping students will be encouraged to visit the Little Free Library.

“This is just giving kids the opportunity to get books when they aren’t able to,” Lori said. “Maybe they can’t get to the library, or they can’t get them at school or their parents can’t buy books for them. This is nice. They can kind of get a new book every time they want something new to look at, and they can learn a lot of things.”