Ever been chastised “ or fined “ for scribbling in a library book? Well, for the coming month, the Toronto Public Library is encouraging citizens of Canada’s largest metropolis to do just that. As part of the Keep Toronto Reading festival, which runs for the entire month of April, the TPL is sending out 99 red journals and asking people to write a note inside about one of their favourite books, then leave the journal in a public place where it can be found by someone else.

The outreach project is the brainchild of Tina Srebotnjak, program manager at the TPL, who told The Toronto Star, “We wanted (the festival) this year to be interactive and get people talking about the books they love.”

From the Star:

The library does hope to eventually get the journals back, however, and each one bears instructions to return the journal to a library branch should someone find it after April 20. Srebotnjak says she hopes to create an exhibit of the journals or use them to compile an online list of Toronto’s favourite books.

One of the journals that will be making their way around the city beginning today has an entry by Mayor David Miller, who wrote about one of his favourite books: Minnow on the Say by Philippa Pearce.