"The best pop-up book in the world"

raves Cory Doctorow at this boingboing post.



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The Biblioburro

Link to October 20 New York Times article, "Acclaimed Colombian Institution has 4,800 Books and 10 Legs".

Excerpt:
“I started out with 70 books, and now I have a collection of more than 4,800,” said Mr. Soriano, 36, a primary school teacher who lives in a small house here with his wife and three children, with books piled to the ceilings.

“This began as a necessity; then it became an obligation; and after that a custom,” he explained, squinting at the hills undulating into the horizon. “Now,” he said, “it is an institution.”

A whimsical riff on the bookmobile, Mr. Soriano’s Biblioburro is a small institution: one man and two donkeys. He created it out of the simple belief that the act of taking books to people who do not have them can somehow improve this impoverished region, and perhaps Colombia.

In doing so, Mr. Soriano has emerged as the best-known resident of La Gloria, a town that feels even farther removed from the rhythms of the wider world than is Aracataca, the inspiration for the setting of the epic “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, another of the region’s native sons.

A Women's Perspective on Local History

Link to October 16 Wausau Daily Herald article, "Daughter's Book explores Wausau VIPs from unique angle".

Excerpt:
A book designed to raise money for the Marathon County Historical Society gives a different
perspective to the area's past.

"The Daughter's Book" is a series of essays and photographs from daughters of families who have been instrumental in the development of central Wisconsin.

Most histories that look at the late 19th century and early 20th century focus on businessmen and movers and shakers. It's no coincidence that often those histories were written by men.

"The Daughter's Book" took a different route. Nancy Frawley, 81, of Wausau, a longtime member of the Marathon Historical Society's Board of Directors, developed the book's premise as a way to raise money for the restoration of the Yawkey House.

Please note: The only copy of the book is available for perusal at the Marathon Counth Historical Society.