Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, production of iHeart Radio. Hey brain Stuff
Speaker 1: Lauren Vogelbaum Here. Todd Bowle tore down his old garage
Speaker 1: door in two thousand nine, the year his mother died.
Speaker 1: Using the scrap wood, he created something new, a box
Speaker 1: shaped like a little red schoolhouse. He set it on
Speaker 1: a post in his yard in Hudson, Wisconsin, and included
Speaker 1: a door that opened to give access to the books
Speaker 1: he placed inside. His mother had been a school teacher,
Speaker 1: and this book box helped keep her legacy alive. He felt.
Speaker 1: Bole died on October eighteenth, eighteen, at age sixty two
Speaker 1: of pancreatic cancer, but not before some seventy five thousand
Speaker 1: Little Free Library boxes had been created and the movement
Speaker 1: had spread worldwide. Today, the movement has over a hundred
Speaker 1: and thirty eight thousand boxes present in a hundred and
Speaker 1: twelve countries and on all seven continents, including one in
Speaker 1: an arcticle at the South Pole. They can be found
Speaker 1: on people's lawns, in public parks, at New York City
Speaker 1: subway stops, and in a refugee camp in Uganda. People
Speaker 1: place books in them and take books away in an
Speaker 1: easy exchange. There are no memberships, no fines, and no
Speaker 1: expectations except for communities dedication to reading and sharing books.
Speaker 1: Both told The Washington Post in I put up my
Speaker 1: library and noticed my neighbors talking to it like it
Speaker 1: was a little puppy, and I realized there was some
Speaker 1: kind of magic about it. When he realized people loved
Speaker 1: the idea of small free library boxes, he and a
Speaker 1: friend worked to extend the magic, building and giving away boxes.
Speaker 1: With national media attention in eleven, the movement grew exponentially,
Speaker 1: and both formed the nonprofit Little Free Library. He told
Speaker 1: the Minneapolis Star Tribune in oh what we have found
Speaker 1: is that the neighborhood starts to feel like it's the
Speaker 1: airs in today's polarized society. The boxes create a common
Speaker 1: space that people are comfortable with. He said. He felt
Speaker 1: the boxes also had a folk art appeal. Although there
Speaker 1: are lots of different blueprints and tutorials aimed at different
Speaker 1: skill levels available on the nonprofit's website, you can build
Speaker 1: and decorate a box however you'd like. Bole himself was
Speaker 1: an erstwhile school teacher turned entrepreneur concerned with the public good.
Speaker 1: Among his ventures was a company that arranged funding for
Speaker 1: nurses to come from overseas to fill a nursing shortage
Speaker 1: in the United States. Today, Little Free Library boxes are
Speaker 1: located in hospitals in Ireland, prisons in Wisconsin, police stations
Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, outside school in Sudan, and on the
Speaker 1: Yamal Peninsula in Siberia, where reindeer herders live. The organization
Speaker 1: also launched Action Book Club, which encourages people to read
Speaker 1: and discuss books on timely topics and take part in
Speaker 1: service projects together, and the Reading Color Initiative, which encourages
Speaker 1: people to read and share books that amplify and celebrate
Speaker 1: diverse voices. And the Impact Library Program, which places little
Speaker 1: libraries and areas with little to no access to books
Speaker 1: and unbound digital events series. If you're interested in building
Speaker 1: a Little Free Library or participating in the network in
Speaker 1: your area, go to Little Free Library dot org to
Speaker 1: get started. There's a world map where you can see
Speaker 1: whether there's already a little library in your neighborhood, plus
Speaker 1: lots of resources for getting involved. They're not a sponsor,
Speaker 1: We just think they're cool. Today's episode is based on
Speaker 1: the article how Todd Bowl started the Little Free Library
Speaker 1: movement on how Stuff Works dot com. Written by Stell Simonton.
Speaker 1: Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio and partnership
Speaker 1: with how stuff works dot com, and it's produced by
Speaker 1: Tyler Playing with assistance from Ramsey Young. For more podcasts
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