Mobile library gets rural kids reading
As a teacher in a primary school in rural Italy, Antonio La Cava (pictured above) was worried about his young pupils’ growing lack of interest in reading books. His response was to transform a three-wheeled van into a mobile library.
Now 73, Antonio has spent nearly 20 years driving his Bibliomotocarro, taking books to children in the remote villages and communities of Basilicata, a region in Italy’s far south. “I was worried about growing old in a country of non-readers,” he says. “Without a book, so often a child is alone.”
La Cava chose a Piaggio Ape van for its humble, homely associations… giving it a house-like roof: “As soon as you see it, it puts you in a good mood,” he says. “It suggests the idea of a refuge, of relaxation, which is what every book offers.”
Besides the library, La Cava also runs creative writing workshops and shows short films inspired by books, all of which underpins his belief that books and culture, as he puts it, are “made by and for everyone, not just a privileged few.”
Source: Readers Digest – Good News Stories
Also see: Whole Brain Thinking