Leena Theresa Rosario is a school teacher on a mission to spread wide the joy of reading.
For more than a decade, Ms. Rosario (37) from Triveni junction in Alappuzha municipality has been biking in and around the town bringing books from her home library to the doorstep of people free of cost.
She began by lending a small number of books shelved in her house to students and homemakers. "Back then, I had a small collection of about 50 books stored on a shelf. The books had collected dust after they were left there for a long period and hence I started giving books to children who visit my home. Later, some of their mothers started borrowing books from me. As the number of readers increased, I started delivering books directly to people," says Ms. Rosario.
It soon heralded the birth of ‘Leena’s Library’ (home library). The library, which is growing in terms of books and readers, now has a collection of more than 2,000 publications. It offers texts of fiction, poetry, biographies, children’s literature, dictionaries, among others. A good number of the books in Leena’s Library has been donated by people and organisations from different parts of the State. Others were purchased by Ms. Rosario out of her own pocket.
She is delivering books to around 300 families from Mararikulam to Ambalapuzha. Her efforts have helped around 1,000 people discover the pleasures of reading. Besides students and homemakers, others borrowing books from the mobile library and the home library include drivers, advocates, government employees, differently abled people, elderly, bedridden people, teachers, and so on.
Ms. Rosario who likes reading books but is “not an avid reader”, says that her idea is to kindle a love for books and reading in people especially in young minds. “I believe reading can make people, especially children, agents of change in society,” says Ms. Rosario who teaches at Leo XIII Lower Primary School, Alappuzha.
She uses her scooter for the mobile library, delivering books and collecting borrowed ones on holidays and on her way to school and return. One thing that differentiates Sherin Villa, her home, from its neighbours is that its door is always open for people to borrow books. While Ms. Rosario is at school, the library is run by her mother-in-law Baby Rosario. The teacher also gets support from her husband Bony Rosario and two children Darwin John Rosario and Derin Joseph Rosario.
