--- title: Kansas City Moves Little Free Library description: City code forces 9-year-old boy to move his "Little Free Library." canonical: https://time.com/2905505/city-forces-9-year-old-boy-to-move-little-free-library-from-front-yard/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-20T18:24:45.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:10:59.557Z og:title: City Forces 9-Year-Old Boy to Move "Little Free Library" From Front Yard og:description: It violates a city code that bans detached structures og:url: https://time.com/2905505/city-forces-9-year-old-boy-to-move-little-free-library-from-front-yard/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: City Forces 9-Year-Old Boy to Move "Little Free Library" From Front Yard twitter:description: It violates a city code that bans detached structures twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # City Forces 9-Year-Old Boy to Move "Little Free Library" From Front Yard > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jun 20, 2014 6:24 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Jun 20, 2014 6:24 PM UTC City officials in Kansas shut down a “little free library” that a boy set up in his front yard because it violates city code, and the family is fighting the decision. Spencer Collins, 9, set up “Spencer’s Little Free Library” in Leawood, Kansas, so neighbors could “take a book, leave a book.” As he told [FOX 4 News](http://fox4kc.com/2014/06/18/boy-plans-to-fight-city-ordinance-that-shut-his-free-little-library-down-in-leawood/), “Reading is one of my favorite things to do. We built it on Mother’s Day as a present for my mom because she really wanted one.” City code [prohibits](http://pvpost.com/2014/06/20/collins-family-removes-little-free-library-from-leawood-home-local-city-councilor-comments-on-situation-28779) detached structures, so the family moved it earlier this week — reportedly to the garage — and set up a [Facebook page](https://www.facebook.com/Spencerslittlefreelibrary) Thursday to solicit support for petitioning the city to amend its code. By publication time, it boasted more than 1,000 fans nationwide and counting. Spencer’s Little Free Library is part of a [movement](https://www.facebook.com/LittleFreeLibrary) to promote literacy and lifelong learning that claims to boast about 15,000 of these homemade libraries nationwide. (h/t [ABA Journal](http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/town%5Fshuts%5Fdown%5Fboys%5Flittle%5Ffree%5Flibrary%5Ffor%5Falleged%5Fdetached%5Fstructure%5Fvio/)) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2905505/city-forces-9-year-old-boy-to-move-little-free-library-from-front-yard/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2905505/city-forces-9-year-old-boy-to-move-little-free-library-from-front-yard/"},"headline":"City Forces 9-Year-Old Boy to Move \"Little Free Library\" From Front Yard","datePublished":"2014-06-20T18:24:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:10:59.557Z","description":"It violates a city code that bans detached structures","url":"https://time.com/2905505/city-forces-9-year-old-boy-to-move-little-free-library-from-front-yard/","keywords":["Newsfeed","U.S.","Kansas","Library"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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