A girl is painting a brick to look like a book at a painting party held by the Robertson County Public Library.
Rachel Adkins/The Ledger Independent
These “book bricks” were painted at the painting party at Robertson County Public Library
Rachel Adkins/The Ledger Independent
MOUNT OLIVET — Robertson County Public Library staff recently invited community members to the library’s gazebo to paint bricks to look like books.
According to Rhonda Bex, a library clerk, she and other staff at the library try to find things for community members to participate in. She said she and her coworkers have seen ideas similar to the book-brick activity on social media.
Bex said it can be hard to get the community interested in an event or activity the library is holding. She noted that she and the other staff members are always trying to “find things” they think will be interesting to participate in.
She went on to give the instructions on how to paint a brick to look like a book.
The first step was for attendees of the event to pick a brick to paint. Next, those who were participating in the activity needed to decide what colors they needed available to them to paint the “spine” of the brick to look like their favorite book.
After Bex poured the desired colors of paint onto everybody’s plates, she told them to paint a vertical edge to look like the book they had in mind. The top horizontal edge was to be painted white with black lines to give the appeal of the pages of a book, she said.
Among the materials for the activity were bricks from behind the library, paint brushes, paint, cups of water, plates, paper towels, and hair dryers to dry the paint on the bricks faster.
Some activity participants used the hair dryers and others allowed their bricks to air dry before being displayed.
As participants appeared to be finishing their bricks, Bex informed everybody there were extra bricks available that could be painted if someone wanted to keep painting. Some kids at the event painted one or two more bricks after their first, she said.
In total, there were 16 bricks painted at the Robertson County Public Library to look like books. Most of the books were not chosen more than once, some attendees commented.
Of the bricks that were painted, there were several genres of novels that were used for inspiration on each brick. The range of genres included children’s, religion, and young adult novels.
Once all of the bricks were painted, Bex asked participants to place their bricks together on a table. Some attendees said the books looked like they were sitting on a shelf once they were lined up.
Bex said the bricks are going to be displayed around the gazebo that is behind the library.
According to Bex, the library will likely host another session of brick painting at a later date. She noted it would likely be in the spring and told community members to watch for flyers and information regarding upcoming events.
