The Wall O Books Project was started in 2014 in India to provide libraries and books to vulnerable children. It has since grown to 159 libraries across India serving over 13,000 children. The nonprofit collects books and works with local institutions to build small libraries called Wall O Books using only a wall. Children are given 100 starter books and elect a student librarian to manage the library.

1. The Wall O Books Project was
started by Crayons of Hope
Foundation on Children’s Day
in 2014
CRAYONS OF HOPE is a Section
25 Non-Profit organization
based out of Kolkata, India.
www.wallobooks.org
www.fb.com/wallobooks

2. W I N D O W T O
T H E W O R L D
O U T S I D E
17000
K I D S
159W A L L O B O O K S
13000
B O O K S
for vulnerable children
in India so far ...

3. TODAY we run 159 dedicated Wall O Books Centers giving
13,000 vulnerable children in India a new way to read,
learn and connect.
We want to create the largest network of libraries for
children in India. We aim to build 100 Wall O Books in
every state of India which will surmount into 2900
libraries by 2017, giving millions of vulnerable children
access to learning & inspire them to nurture hope in a
powerful new way, across the country.
For each of the 100 children covered by a Wall O Books,
the books they receive are often their first view of the
world outside. They get a startup grant of 100 books and
a major dose of love :)
We walk up to all kinds of places in India, collect 100 kids
and help them build a library of their own using just a wall
- and so we call this a Wall O Books - equip it with a
startup stash of 100 books (and a world map, a light bulb
and a few more things :) and elect a little librarian to take
care of it.
18
What can 100 kids build for themselves
using just a wall and their free spirit?
And then we take one child and connect her to another
child in another part of the country using just a postcard,
magically.
Though our work doesn’t stop just here. We focus on
instilling some important life skills in these children too.
As they say that a child’s mind is a like a clean board and
all we do is try to imprint on it what might be helpful for
the child in his/her life ahead. For instance, one of the
things that we do is we make the children exchange
postcards with their counterparts who have built their own
Wall O Books library in a different part of the country.
The postcards help them connect with someone from a
different place in the country which till then they have
only read about and this helps to broaden their
imagination on many other things. This activity also helps
them to better their communication skills which results
into bringing them together as friends thereby, imbibing a
sense of brotherhood as the citizen of one and same
country.
Vision. Mission.

4. 18
How do we do it. Our process in brief.
The little librarian.
To build a Wall O Books at any location we partner and collaborate with different institutions already working with
vulnerable children from the age group of 8 to 16 years. They nominate teachers to participate in the Wall O Books Teacher
Training Workshop. On the same day we hand over a 30 Kg Wall O Books Kit to the teachers, which has everything required
to build a Wall O Books library. The teachers can now go back to build the library together with the children.
There is a close monitoring and evaluation process to ensure quality and measure impact. We collect monthly feedback
directly from the children. The teachers are in regular touch with us and share a report every month on how the children are
developing their reflective thinking and creative expression abilities.
During the inauguration of Wall O Books the children also elect their own leader for their Wall O Books library (we call them
the little librarian) in an exhaustive and full–featured election. They nominate candidates, speeches are made, queues are
formed, votes are cast and a leader is elected; and then he/she makes an acceptance speech. This project has helped more
than 13,000 children with their first brush with democracy.
While each center starts with 100 books, the books are rotated among all centers so that they essentially have access to a
13,000 books library. This way an expensive encyclopedia or a National Geographic issue finds a way to reach thousands of
kids.
It takes 2 days to build a Wall O Books library. The children do it completely on their own with our support and that of their
teacher. The entire process can be viewed at: https://vimeo.com/118326517

5. 18
How can you participate.
We extend open invitations to organizations and individuals to become a part of our mission, with a proposal to adopt Wall O
Books libraries for at least a year. That would cover the cost of building library units as well as their maintenance cost for one
whole year. If you want to build Wall O Books libraries at your desired locations, give us a call.
Companies and Enterprises can help us in 3 ways:
1. You can help us run a book drive campaign by allowing us to place the WOB book collection box inside your office.
2. You can adopt WOB libraries for a minimum duration of one year.
3. You can help us impact these kids’ lives even more by offering support to WOB intervention workshops (Currently we
conduct workshops on Identity, Democracy, Letters to the World etc.)
For individuals, there are 3 ways to engage:
1. You can adopt WOB libraries for a minimum duration of one year.
2. You can be a part of our Ambassador of Smiles Program and spend one day a month with kids at any WOB centre.
3. You can explore our activities and reach out to us through our community forum - facebook.com/groups/wallobooks

6. 18
They love what we do, so
they're helping us do it
better.
founders.
Swastika
Gurung Saha
Sanjukt K
CEO / 28 Founder / 41
I am driven by the idea of opening a window
to the world for India's vulnerable children.
I became social entrepreneur and joined
Sanjukt to create a brave program that has
the potential to power a million little
dreams.
When a kid myself i dreamt of having a room
full of books, wall to wall when i grew up.
Wall of books is a dream come true not only
for the kids we work with but also for me.
Swastika and our entire team.
www.wallobooks.org

7. 18
If it takes two days to build one Wall O
Books, how many days would it take to
build 100? 200 days? 50 days?
We got you. It takes just 2 days. But you have to discover how.
In October 2013, Sanjukt K. Saha – an IIT graduate and Swastika Gurung – a
young social entrepreneur, started a journey to disrupt how millions of children
from low income group families in India learn, express & find hope.
Today an amazing team – Men and women. Engineers and MBAs. Young and
Old. Are breaking some walls for the world out of India.
Quick question.
acupofcoffee?
Visit any wall of books center.
Just give us a call, we'll share with
you the ride.
You can connect to us at:
Swati Moitra
+91 97485.30105
swati@crayonsofhope.org
Visit our head office anytime of the
day, any day in the week. We'll be
delighted to share thoughts over a
hot cup of coffee.
Wall O Books
Q 46, B P Township, Patuli, Kolkata
700094
+91 97350.16096
swastika@crayonsofhope.org
Join a simple movement of hope.