Its About Us page, first posted in 2016, says it has put over 11,000 books in the hands of over 2,500 children. It says it has also given books to children in Indiana, Georgia, Ohio and Liberia.1
In 2015 and 2016 it held a Youth Literature Collection in Detroit; in 2017, a Back-to-School Drive. At the 2017 drive, it says, over 1,000 books went to Detroit children, and over 200 children got backpacks and school supplies.
From 2015 to 2019 it posted poems and essays by aspiring writers of all ages. Steven Farrar, now our CFO, was its editor-in-chief and the first of its featured writers.
This library carries the name on: public-domain books, and now the work of Linking Literature’s writers.
linkingliterature.orgNarrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
Frederick Douglass, c. 1818–1895
First published 1845
Memoir, Slavery, Literacy
Frederick Douglass’s account of his life in slavery in Maryland, how he learned to read and write, and his escape to the North.
Contains racist language and descriptions of violence from its time.
Read ten pagesAlice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Page 75 of 152
“How do you know I’m mad?” said Alice.
“You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn’t have come here.”
Alice didn’t think that proved it at all; however, she went on “And how do you know that you’re mad?”
“To begin with,” said the Cat, “a dog’s not mad. You grant that?”
“I suppose so,” said Alice.
“Well, then,” the Cat went on, “you see, a dog growls when it’s angry, and wags its tail when it’s pleased. Now I growl when I’m pleased, and wag my tail when I’m angry. Therefore I’m mad.”
“I call it purring, not growling,” said Alice.
“Call it what you like,” said the Cat. “Do you play croquet with the Queen to-day?”
“I should like it very much,” said Alice, “but I haven’t been invited yet.”
“You’ll see me there,” said the Cat, and vanished.
Alice was not much surprised at this, she was getting so used to queer things happening. While she was looking at the place where it had been, it suddenly appeared again.
“By-the-bye, what became of the baby?” said the Cat. “I’d nearly forgotten to ask.”
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The books are public-domain texts, not restricted by copyright in the United States. Outside the US, check your local copyright law.
Poems and essays first posted on linkingliterature.org, each linked to the original post. They are under the writer’s name where the post gives one, and under Linking Literature where it does not.
We set every page in our own type. Where a book has a cover from its own time, from an early edition or the scan released with the text, we show it; otherwise we set the cover in our type too. Some covers come from Wikimedia Commons and the Internet Archive.
We chose the first 100 books and wrote their summaries and content notes. The rest follow in order of how often they are downloaded, with no notes from us; their summaries are short descriptions that an AI model wrote from the catalogue record, and not every book has one. Older books can contain racist language and violence. Reading is free, with no account, fee, lessons, quizzes or scores.