When Todd Bol used an old door to create a tiny library for his garden in 2009 he can’t have imagined the impact it would have. His friends and neighbours all loved the idea and less than a year later he’d made more, some for sale, some he gave away.
Eventually he got right behind the movement, setting himself a goal to create 2,150, which would beat the number of Carnegie libraries in the USA, less than a decade later and there are 75,000 tiny libraries on the front lawns of houses of eight-eight countries in the world.
Bol created the first library to honour his mother June Bol, who was always welcoming kids to their Stillwater kitchen table for a sandwich or help with homework and in 2013 he said that he wanted to see a Little Free Library on every block and a book in every hand.
We think Bol pretty much achieved his dream and will be remembered forever for the movement that took the USA and the world by storm.
Earlier this month, 62-year-old Bol was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and, after a single round of chemotherapy, peritoneal cancer. Last week, he lost his fight but his gift of the Little Free Library will live on for a long time.
Todd Bol is survived by his wife, Susan and their adult children, Allison and Austin.
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