Little Free Libraries can turn a routine walk in the neighborhood into a treasure hunt. While these free-standing structures are primarily meant to ease the free exchange of books, sometimes there’s the occasional children’s toy or tchotchke looking for a new owner. 

Eden Cunningham, this month’s cover illustrator, has come to appreciate the different ways the libraries are constructed after taking a woodworking course at UW-Madison. “Now they’re one of my favorite things to look for on walks,” she says. “I left my favorite sketchbook in a Little Free Library on Winnebago Street and hope it’s enjoying the journey!” 

“The Little Free Library idea is a cover concept I’ve had for a while, but no illustrator seemed interested in it until now,” says Isthmus art director Tommy Washbush. “Eden loved the direction and transformed it into a little critter apartment complex, which I thought was a really clever and adorable idea.”

Eden, a Madison native, has a degree in art education from UW-Madison. She works mostly digitally, but loves most media, especially painting. See more of her work at instagram.com/eadin.art.