ALTON - High school students Jacob and Blake Schaper used their ingenuity recently to bring a Little Free Library to area children at Stephanie's Place in Alton. Jacob and Blake, are two homeschool students in Alton. The new Little Free Library will be added to the registry of over 100,000 libraries around the world helping to increase book access for all.

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Jacob Schaper used his knowledge from a class on AutoCAD and his resourcefulness to create a specially designed library for Stephanie’s Place. Jacob and Blake plan two additional Little Free Library donations around the region in the near future.

Jacob described designing the Little Free Library for Stephanie's Place" as an incredible hands-on learning opportunity.

"Being able to take the project from idea to paper and then building it from scratch, taught me so much about engineering and product design," he said.

Jacob's brother, Blake, meanwhile, headed up the book drive and continues to find books to fill the library shelves at local garage sales and from friends and family willing to donate.

Blake said he was excited to share his love of books with others and had fun organizing the books that Joanne Adams and SAK donated. The brothers said they have an insatiable desire to read and are thrilled to spark an interest in others to pick up a book, share a book, and have a great conversation about the ideas and characters that fill the pages.

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Books and ideas can change the world, and Stephanie's Place has already experienced the effects. Stephanie Elliott, owner of Stephanie's Place with her husband, Joe, said that during the past year, many kids didn’t have access to a library.

"This free Little Library gives kids the opportunity to have access to more books," Stephanie said.

"There are books on how to do all kinds of things in the new library, and they know that they can finish one and return it and find another one that sparks their interest," she added.

Stephanie said she thinks she is as proud of Jacob and Blake's Little Library contribution as their mother and father.

"Jacob and Blake are homeschooled, and they always have them to do a project," Stephanie said. "This summer the two boys also participated in the Serving Area Kids (SAK) program that includes lunch for kids during the summer. Stephanie's Place has been a host the past couple of summers."

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