The Legend of ‘Book Ninja’ — Stalking and Stocking

It’s not for recognition. I’m a book nerd.”

A mild-mannered figure subtly scrutinizes a little free library, minding its own business somewhere on the Key Peninsula.

The shelves are mostly bare. Nothing but vampire fiction and self-help books.

The figure moves in.

When it leaves, the lower shelf is packed with children’s books. The upper shelf holds novels and nonfiction, including a history of vampire lore.

The Book Ninja has struck.

“It’s my hobby,” they told Key Peninsula News, on condition of anonymity. “It’s not for recognition. I’m a book nerd.”

The self-styled Book Ninja grew up in a house where books were everywhere. It’s much the same in the ninja’s KP home now: books on shelves, in the kitchen and in baskets around the house.

“I grew up in the ’90s, so it was different back then,” they said. “My parents took me to the library all the time. That’s where we got books and videos. I was crazy for it. I didn’t know about video stores until I was in high school.”

Then, two years ago, came the event that would eventually require a secret identity.

Book Ninja spotted an online auction for books discarded by a closing school. On a whim, they bid $3.

They won four pallets of books.

One pallet consisted entirely of dictionaries, which the future ninja managed to donate to a charitable program for teachers.

“But then I had the rest.”

A little free library provided the first clue.

Little Free Libraries are neighborhood book-sharing boxes where anyone can take a book or leave one. Book Ninja had noticed one near home and filled it with an armload.

One armload barely made a dent in the collection.

The search began.

“My top three on a weekly basis are Gateway and Volunteer Park, because they get hit pretty hard, and the Burley Post Office,” Book Ninja said. “Then there are random ones.”

Those random targets stretch from Bremerton to Gig Harbor to Tacoma. Some appear on the Little Free Library Finder app; many do not. The app shows only 10 on the Key Peninsula, four of them on Herron Island.

Book Ninja knows there are more.

And over time, the ninja has learned that stocking little libraries isn’t simply a matter of putting books into boxes. They had to learn to read the readers.

“At Gateway, the children’s books get wiped out right away, but that’s not true everywhere,” they said. “At the Mustard Seed (the Crandall Center, an activity hub for elders), it’s more fiction.”

“I have to go to a little library more than once to kind of learn what’s being taken.”

Then there was a crisis.

“I hit a point where I ran out of books.”

Book Ninja had already been considering creating a character to preserve their anonymity while searching Facebook for unwanted books. Running out forced the issue.

Book Ninja was born.

“Just shoot me a message on Facebook Messenger,” they said. “I’m pretty well stocked on adult books, mostly nonfiction. But I’ll take anything. There’s no limit to children’s book donations. They go so fast.”

The ninja would also like to see more little libraries built on the Key Peninsula.

“Repurpose something in your own neighborhood because there aren’t a lot of little libraries out here on the KP,” they said. “If they start one and don’t want to register, just let me know. I’ll help support you.”

Meanwhile, the legend is spreading.

“Keep the name anonymous, but a high school student told me they want to be the next Book Ninja,” the original said. “It makes me happy.”

Somewhere on the Key Peninsula, another mild-mannered figure is waiting to strike.