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Son's tribute to his mother writes a new chapter in world literacy
Source: Agencies |
December 27, 2012, Thursday
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IT started as a simple tribute to his mother, a teacher and bibliophile. Todd Bol put up a miniature version of a one-room schoolhouse on a post outside his home in Hudson, Wisconsin, filled it with books and invited his neighbors to borrow them.
They loved it. Then a friend in Madison put out similar boxes and got the same reaction.
Three years later, the boxes are a global sensation. They number in the thousands and have spread to at least 36 countries.
"It's weird to be an international phenomenon," said Bol, a former international business consultant who finds himself at the head of what has become the Little Free Libraries organization. The book-sharing boxes are being adopted by a growing number of groups as a way of promoting literacy in inner cities and underdeveloped countries.
Bol, his Madison friend Rick Brooks, and helpers run the project from a nondescript industrial building outside Hudson, a riverside community of 12,000 about 30 kilometers east of downtown St Paul, Minnesota.
They build wooden book boxes in a variety of styles, ranging from basic to a miniature British-style phone box, and offer them for sale on the group's website, which also offers plans for building your own.
Each little library invites passersby to "take a book, return a book."
Educators in particular have seized on the potential of something so simple.
In Minneapolis, school officials are aiming to put up about 100 in neighborhoods where many children don't have books at home.
"I absolutely love them," said Melanie Sanco, a city spokeswoman. "It sparks the imagination. You see them around and you want one. They're cute and adorable."
Children who have books stay in school longer, she said.
Bol and Brooks see the potential for a lot more growth. At one point, they set a goal of 2,510 boxes - surpassing the number of public libraries built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
They passed that mark this summer.
The Rotary Club plans to use the boxes in its literacy efforts in the west African nation of Ghana. Books for Africa, a Minnesota-based group that has sent over 27 million books to 48 countries since 1988, recently decided to ship little libraries to Ghana, too.
Sage Holben, who put up a Little Free Library in her tough neighborhood near downtown St Paul, said she thinks it has made a positive difference.
Although crime and violence are common on the block, no one has vandalized the box or stolen the books.
She asked one eight-year-old if she really intended to read the romantic novel she had taken. The girl told her no, Holben said, but ran her finger over the words as if following the text. "I do this and I feel like I'm smart."
They loved it. Then a friend in Madison put out similar boxes and got the same reaction.
Three years later, the boxes are a global sensation. They number in the thousands and have spread to at least 36 countries.
"It's weird to be an international phenomenon," said Bol, a former international business consultant who finds himself at the head of what has become the Little Free Libraries organization. The book-sharing boxes are being adopted by a growing number of groups as a way of promoting literacy in inner cities and underdeveloped countries.
Bol, his Madison friend Rick Brooks, and helpers run the project from a nondescript industrial building outside Hudson, a riverside community of 12,000 about 30 kilometers east of downtown St Paul, Minnesota.
They build wooden book boxes in a variety of styles, ranging from basic to a miniature British-style phone box, and offer them for sale on the group's website, which also offers plans for building your own.
Each little library invites passersby to "take a book, return a book."
Educators in particular have seized on the potential of something so simple.
In Minneapolis, school officials are aiming to put up about 100 in neighborhoods where many children don't have books at home.
"I absolutely love them," said Melanie Sanco, a city spokeswoman. "It sparks the imagination. You see them around and you want one. They're cute and adorable."
Children who have books stay in school longer, she said.
Bol and Brooks see the potential for a lot more growth. At one point, they set a goal of 2,510 boxes - surpassing the number of public libraries built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
They passed that mark this summer.
The Rotary Club plans to use the boxes in its literacy efforts in the west African nation of Ghana. Books for Africa, a Minnesota-based group that has sent over 27 million books to 48 countries since 1988, recently decided to ship little libraries to Ghana, too.
Sage Holben, who put up a Little Free Library in her tough neighborhood near downtown St Paul, said she thinks it has made a positive difference.
Although crime and violence are common on the block, no one has vandalized the box or stolen the books.
She asked one eight-year-old if she really intended to read the romantic novel she had taken. The girl told her no, Holben said, but ran her finger over the words as if following the text. "I do this and I feel like I'm smart."
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