One has New York Times best-sellers by Jodi Picoult, John Grisham and Jess Walter, along with a “Pretty Good Joke Book.” One has books about oils, mustards and grilling. Another has “Wild” by Cheryl Strayed and “The Handyman” by Carolyn See.

The “little free libraries” on Mercer Island are neighborhood treasures: places for people to come together and share stories. Visit one week and come back the next, and the collections may have completely changed.

Little free library stewards set up boxes near the street in front of a house, school, church or workplace, then seed it with books they love but no longer want or need. Patrons are invited to “Take a book. Return a book.”

Terry Pottmeyer set up her little library on Parkside Lane this past winter. It’s one of the four registered on the Little Free Library website, though there are many more.

Pottmeyer’s library is dedicated to her mother, Audrey, “whose love of reading informed her days and accompanied her nights” and who “raised a generation of true readers.”

She said she credits her mom’s example and her family’s weekly trips to the library as encouraging her love of reading, but got the inspiration to build a little library from her daily commute.

“I used to work in Kirkland and had been driving past a couple little libraries every day for years,” Pottmeyer said. “And I thought, what a great way to encourage reading and build community.”

She said she doesn’t live on a well-traveled street, so she made a library for her friend Susan Kaplan. Kaplan lives on S.E. 80th Street, where the library gets a little more turnover.

She said she decorated it to match Kaplan’s personality: red with polka dots.

“It’s a great way to introduce yourself to the neighborhood, and say, ‘I love reading and this is where I live and here are other things that I like,’” Pottmeyer said. “One of my favorite places on the Island is Island Books, and now I know that once I finish a book, it can stay in the community.”

Other little libraries can be found along 94th Avenue S.E., 90th Avenue S.E. and S.E. 24th Street.