When Saemann - a 51-year-old painter and martial arts instructor - introduced her Trick or Read offerings two Halloweens ago, the locals didn't know what to make of their newish neighbor with purple, green and blue spiked hair.
"Some took books, some just looked at them, some just looked at me," the former English lit major at Immaculata said.
Last year, people warmed up to the idea. She gave away 54 books. Monday night was something else altogether.
She'd put out the call for donations on Facebook and by 5:30 p.m., when the light was starting to fade and the streets were filling with Capt. Americas and Grim Reapers, she was waiting with nearly 400 volumes, from picture books to chapter books.
Over Easter she'd volunteered to deliver meals with Liberti Church East, which has moved into a factory across the street. She noticed that very few people had anything to read in their homes.
"This isn't a neighborhood where a lot of people spend a lot of money on books," she said.
Since moving into the neighborhood three years ago, the former Chester County resident has been remaking the place.
The dirt lot next to her rowhouse was pocked with syringes and cinder blocks and junked timber. So she cultivated a garden, planting flowers in the cement blocks and turning the boards into borders. She planted sunflowers. It's now a forest of green.
The streets are still a little rough around the edges, as her friend Nelson Haakenson puts it. Three times since January people have broken into her car.
"There's still a lot of drug traffic that goes on," she said. When she strings up Christmas lights, thieves take the bulbs. As she was setting up her display of books and lamps and Halloween-themed tablecloths Monday night, a neighbor swiped one of her helium balloons.
