He had an abundance of books, a weathered garage door in need of repair, and an abiding sadness that persisted months after the death of his mother, a schoolteacher who had tutored neighborhood children at the family dining table in their Twin Cities home.
And so, in what he later described as "a spiritual gesture" to his late mother, June, Todd Bol set to work one day in 2009. Repurposing wood from his garage, he built a dollhouse-size library in the shape of a one-room schoolhouse, decorating the structure with a steeple and a tinny toy bell. He painted the library red, using bright white paint for its wood- shingled roof, and crafted a glass door to secure a few of his parents' favorite books, including Tom Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation.