Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Free Reading

Photo source:

From: Now Hear This . . . People, Trends and Ideas
by Mike Tucker in the May issue of the AARP Bulletin:

"Todd Bol has ignited an Oprah-like revolution with Little Free Library, a project he launched two years ago to honor his late mom, a former teacher and book lover. He built a dollhouse-size repository for books, planted it outside his home in Hudson, Wisconsin, and stocked it. It operated around one concept: Take a book, return a book. When the model proved popular, Bol, 57, and friend Rick Brooks began to help others copy it. Now, their website counts about 700 mini-libraries in 45 states and 20 foreign countries, including Ghana, England and Germany. Literacy isn't the only focus, Bol says. "When you meet someone at one of the Little Libraries, you talk about books, what your kids read, about schools. People of all ages are talking to each other."

I LOVE this concept! Which only proves reading and books are not dying or being replaced by Kindles, Nooks and other eReaders. I'm not disparaging  eReaders; I happen to own one but it spends more time in a drawer and I can't tell you the last time I used it. Bottom line? I prefer real books, hand's down!

Namaste,
Chris

2 comments:

Lynn said...

I'm official in love with this idea!

Tracey said...

Scream! This is about the cutest thing ever! And wha a great tribute to his mother. I'm glad to hear the idea caught on. Lastly - I, too, am a 'tangible book' lover. I still like holding them, smelling them (lol!) & using my wild collection of bookmarks.