Area family creates library for kids
CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY FORUM
The Donaldson family created a Facebook group page called “We Can,” which raises money to support projects aimed at helping children. Rylee, 7, left, and Josiah, 5, pose with their Little Free Library, “Bob the Book Bot,” which the duo created from an old Maryville Daily Forum newspaper rack with help from their mother, Sarah.
As soon as Sarah Donaldson opened the car doors for her two kids, Rylee, 7 and Josiah, 5, they sprinted to the Little Free Library the family created at the Braddyville, Iowa City Park.
“Since they were newborn babies, I would read to them and we read a lot,” Sarah Donaldson said. “It’s paid off, they’re early readers and they enjoy it a lot. I know there’s a lot of kids that don’t even own a book and just the idea of being able to give a kid a book they can call their own is important.”
Donaldson, along with her husband and two kids moved to the northwest Missouri/southwest Iowa area a few years ago and wanted to find a way to help people in the surrounding communities.
“We moved down here from North Dakota about two years ago and we were in Clarinda first,” Donaldson said. “My kids were infatuated with this idea of getting a nickel for a can up here, so they had this thought that if they recycled all of the cans, they can give the money away to kids in need.”
After the kids approached Donaldson about their idea, she created a Facebook group page called “We Can.”
“It’s designed for kids to help other kids,” Donaldson said. “Our first project was to put a Little Free Library in Braddyville, Iowa because we knew Maryville had one, Clearmont had one and Clarinda has one, but Braddyville didn’t have one.”
The Little Free Library fascination hit the area last year and several have popped up in Maryville and the surround communities ever since.
According to the Little Free Library website, it’s a “take a book, return a book” gathering place where neighbors share their favorite literature and stories. In its most basic form, a Little Free Library is a box full of books where anyone may stop by and pick up a book (or two) and bring back other books to share. But the library at the Braddyville park isn’t an ordinary box, it’s a robot.
“We didn’t have the money and I didn’t have the skill to build one so I was thinking outside the box and I saw a newspaper box one day and I thought that would be a weather proof option,” Donaldson said. “I was hoping it would be easy to get one and I was able to get one from Phil Cobb at the Maryville Daily Forum. After that, I took it down to Ryan Stahl at RSE Fabrication in Braddyville and I said, ‘Can you make this look like a robot?’ I came back two weeks later and it was amazing.
“We had some donations come in and we were able to paint it. My dad owns a sign company in Sedalia, Missouri and he made the decals to make the stickers for it. After it was completed, we named it Bob the Book Bot.”
For the last four months, Bob the Book Bot has sat on the east side of the park and greets young and old as they enter the park. Donaldson said that she’s seen people sitting in the park reading books and hopes that the library is being put to good use. She said that there have been more than 100 books in the library since its inception.
“I’ve always loved the organization, they’re a non-profit, and as a former teacher, I know how important it is to give kids books,” Donaldson said. “The library is great, but having your own book to call your own is something very different. We were looking around for some ideas and the website has a lot of great plans and stuff about how to build them.”
As a mother, Donaldson said she enjoys seeing her kids put other people first. She said that it’s important for kids to think about others any chance they get.
“We’re Christians and we believe that we need to help people whenever we can,” Donaldson said. “I home school them and I’ve raised them to always think freely, independently and outside the box. Also, I’ve raised them to always think about how we can benefit someone else. We’ve been blessed beyond measure and how can we give to other people.”
Rylee has helped her younger brother, Josiah, with the project and the duo isn’t done yet. Donaldson said the kids are thinking of more ways to help other kids their age.
“When Rylee started collecting cans and getting money, she was thinking about ways to do something with the money,” Donaldson said. “We wanted the money to go to kids in northwest Missouri or southwest Iowa. The first idea to help other people was the library and I knew we could do it. It was a blessing and we are trying to come up with an idea for our next big project in the area.”
Donaldson enjoys seeing her children’s faces light up whenever they read a book and believes that the little libraries are an extra hand in the fight for childhood reading.
“Literacy is so important and the key to our kid’s future is just being able to read and enjoy reading,” Donaldson said. “Books open a whole new world and that’s cliché to say, but the ability to enjoy books especially now when there’s all of this technology now is important.”
For more information or a map of every registered Little Free Library, visit littlefreelibrary.org.
CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY FORUM
Rylee and Josiah Donaldson look inside the Little Free Library, “Bob the Book Bot,” they created. Their mother, Sarah, said the library has been up for fourth months and there’s been more than 100 books placed in the library.
CHRIS ROUSH/DAILY FORUM
After receiving donations from the Maryville Daily Forum, RSE Fabrication in Braddyville, Iowa, and several other people, the Donaldson family created a Little Free Library that was placed in the Braddyville City Park.
