You may have seen some free little libraries on the side of the road around your neighbourhood, but in Herring Cove, Gabriella Rizkallah is doing things a little differently.
Pokémon cards fill the library on her yard, and like the ones full of books, anyone can come up and take a card, so long as they trade something of similar value.
Her son was having a hard time connecting with students at school, she says, until he discovered Pokémon cards later in the year and found a group.
But then June rolled around and the school year ended.
“I was like, ‘Ugh, how do we keep this going?’” says Rizkallah.
“Let’s make one of those library things, but I’ll do Pokémon cards.”
Cards are typically bought at the store in wrapped packs, and each has a chance of containing some very rare cards.
Some children are drawn to cards for the holographic foil on them, the colour associated with the type (green for grass, blue for water, red for fire, etc.), or even the damage done by the Pokémon’s attacks when playing the game, according to Rizkallah.
Trading, not taking
The box has really grown in popularity since she initially put it up. Children show up with their binders full of cards, ready to trade.
She is also using it as an opportunity to teach her children about trading and not taking.
“I want it to be fair for everyone,” says Rizkallah.
Although, she knew there could be some problems that come along with the success.
Vandalized
Around the second week of July, Rizkallah says a neighbour noticed all the cards in the box were thrown on the ground. That neighbour picked them up and put them back into the box.
Rizkallah checked the security cameras and saw a group of teenagers were the last ones there.
But she did not want to let one incident ruin the positive thing she had created.
Everyone was a teenager once, she says, and they have all made choices they wish they could take back.
On the other hand, teenagers are often the most misunderstood people, which she understands because of her work as an art therapist. So she does not want to point fingers and, instead, extend a hand.
“This isn’t just for little kids. Trade cards, stop by, enjoy it. But I also hope you’ll remember something I tell my own children all the time. The big kids are often the people the little ones look up to,” Rizkallah wrote in a social media post.
“I know you’re capable of being those people.”
Another time, she says someone did not follow the general rules written on the inside of the door on the box and took a whole bottom row.
Card stock
Thankfully, she says, someone left a massive donation of 1000 cards, so she will be stocked up to replenish when things are taken and not traded.
Plus, every now and then a child will come by who does not have cards, and they get really excited, so she will let them have one without trading, she says.
Some Pokémon cards can fetch a high price for resellers. The original Charizard, for example, which was released in 1999, has several Ebay listings for over $300, some even over $500, as of this writing.
Rizkallah says they have seen cards in the cabinet worth about $10, maybe one that was worth around $50, which is still a lot for a paper card.
She tends not to leave more than one of those in there at a time, because that would “probably not end up so great.”
But it does not need to be the value of the cards that draw people in.
“You never know what you’re going to come across when it comes to the box, and I think that’s the beautiful part of it.”
