NY library book free on park benches

NEW YORK - The New York Public Library is encouraging bookworms to pass around 25,000 free copies of a new paperback it will distribute in subway stations, on park benches and in other public places.

The book celebrates the library’s vast collection - and patrons - by featuring a diverse group of celebrities, including Stephen Colbert, the Harlem Globetrotters and Yoko Ono, posing with or discussing their favorite library treasure. Its distribution is part of the library’s centennial celebration.

“Know The Past, Find The Future,” will be dropped off at park benches and in five subway stations. Copies will also be distributed at the landmark Fifth Avenue library. A note in the book will instruct readers to leave it in another part of the city for someone else to enjoy.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg chose to highlight “Johnny Tremain,” a children’s story by Esther Forbes about Paul Revere and a daring teenage messenger he said he read a hundred times growing up. Like the character, Bloomberg writes, it taught him to “stand up for what is right and make a difference in the world.”

An online version will be available in about a month.

AP