Penguin Random House | St. Paul, 03/18/2025

200,000 Little Free Libraries

Penguin Random House and the LFL reading initiative set up the 200,000th book box at a school in St. Paul.

Penguin Random House recently partnered with Little Free Library (LFL) to celebrate an important milestone: the unveiling of the global reading initiative’s 200,000th book box. It was set up on March 11 at Benjamin E. Mays IB World School, an elementary school in the historic Rondo neighborhood of St. Paul, the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota. This is the first of 200 Little Free Libraries containing a total of 40,000+ children’s books that Penguin Random House is donating to the initiative to mark the occasion. The 200 PRH book boxes will be placed at U.S. elementary schools with a particularly high percentage of children from families in need.

The 200,000th Little Free Library inside the school in St. Paul is designed to resemble a red one-room schoolhouse, paying homage to the original Little Free Library built by LFL founder Todd H. Bol in 2009. The milestone library joins a worldwide network spanning all 50 states, 128 countries, and all seven continents. To celebrate its new Little Free Library, the school hosted a dedication ceremony, followed by story time that featured “All Are Welcome” by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman. Roughly 50 students who excelled in a recent school-wide reading challenge attended the event. All 340 students, kindergarten through fifth grade, received PRH books and participated in a dedicated reading session.

The schools slated to receive the 199 other Little Free Libraries sponsored by PRH were selected through an application process. One of the selected schools is the Cornerstone Academy for Social Action, in New York’s Bronx neighborhood. Its application read: “Surrounded by fast-food restaurants and auto repair shops, our 269 Pre-K through 5th grade students have limited access to books. A Little Free Library will empower them to build personal libraries at home, develop positive reading habits, and share their love of books with their families.” And the Somerset Lakes Academy in West Palm Beach (Florida), which will also receive a box, had written: “Many of our students have few or no books at home, and transportation barriers prevent families from reaching the public library. A Little Free Library will serve as a crucial bridge, providing ongoing access to literature for students, their siblings, parents, and the community.”