LITTLE LIBRARIES, BIG HEROES

A book-sized celebration and history of the Little Free Library movement.

Paul’s heartfelt text delivers the story behind Todd Bol’s founding of the Little Free Library nonprofit, which began as a tribute to his late mother in his home state of Wisconsin and has since spread around the world. Bol (who passed away in 2018 just weeks after a cancer diagnosis) built his first little library with discarded lumber, placing it at the edge of his yard and filling it with books for passersby to borrow. After seeing how it “became the center of [the] neighborhood” Bol approached his friend Rick Brooks for advice about how to spread what they came to call “Little Free Libraries” to other communities. Paul’s text details the ups and downs of their grassroots efforts, noting that they were inspired by librarian Lutie Stearns, “who brought travelling libraries all over Wisconsin,” and Andrew Carnegie, “who once built 2,510 libraries!” Parra’s accompanying illustrations, rendered in acrylics, depict Bol and Brooks, both white men, and the diverse people from across the United States and around the world who became “stewards,” or “community heroes” in the words of the text, of their own Little Free Libraries. Their flat aesthetic has something of a DIY/painted-on-lumber appearance, which adds to the homespun feeling of the text and the very movement that inspired it.

A book to share about book-sharing at its best.