2 LI Boys Win International Award For Free Library They Founded

MELVILLE, NY — The two Melville brothers who co-founded the Little Lev Library together have received the 2025 Todd H. Bol Award for Outstanding Achievement from Little Free Library, a nonprofit that recognizes the people behind free libraries internationally.

The award earned by Ethan and Jackson Levenstien honors "extraordinary individuals who embody LFL’s mission to build community, inspire readers and expand book access for all," Little Free Library wrote in a statement.

"It is a privilege to recognize Ethan and Jackson as one of this year’s winners of the Todd H. Bol
Award for Outstanding Achievement," LFL Executive Director Greig Metzger said in a news release. "Their volunteer efforts exemplify the vision of the late founder of Little Free Library, Todd Bol, to engage communities and enrich lives through the power of shared books."

When these brothers realized that not every child in their community had shelves full of books at
home, they started the "Little Lev Library" — a book-sharing box created to address the lack of book
access for financially struggling families. Ethan, 13, and Jackson, 11, coordinated a book drive that
collected more than 2,000 books and won a $500 grant to start the Little Lev Library.

"Its name holds a special meaning to us," said Ethan. "'Lev,’ in addition to being short for our last
name, means ‘heart’ in Hebrew, and it fills our hearts when we read and share with others.... For
us, this library is a small way to make a big difference. We love books and believe reading should
be for everyone."

The Todd H. Bol Awards for Outstanding Achievement are named for LFL’s founder, Todd Bol, who
created the first Little Free Library book-sharing box in 2009 in Hudson, Wisconsin. Bol died
unexpectedly in 2018. This is the seventh year the awards have been presented.

All winners can be seen here.

Little Free Library is a nonprofit organization that builds community, inspires readers and
expands book access for all through a global network of volunteer-led Little Free Libraries. There are
more than 200K registered Little Free Library book-sharing boxes worldwide in all 50 states, 128
countries and seven continents. Through them, more than 300 million books have been shared since 2009.

LFL received the 2020 World Literacy Award as well as honors from the Library of Congress, National Book Foundation and others. The organization grants Little Free Libraries full of books to underserved areas through its Impact Library and Indigenous Library Programs and champions diverse books through its Read in Color initiative. To learn more, people may visit the Little Free Library website.