The Kid Lit Foundation has installed a box library at the Department of Paediatrics, Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH), Idi-Araba, Lagos.
Speaking to The Lagos Review, Sope Martins, the founder of The Kid Lit Foundation (KLF), and a children’s author said that the installation was created to give children who are receiving care at the hospital access to books, stories, colour, imagination, and moments of comfort during their stay. “We want children to have access to stories not only in schools or libraries, but also in the places where they are the most vulnerable and the most in need of joy and hope.”
Martins added that the box library installation is part of KLF’s commitment to advocating for children’s literacy and storytelling. Since its inception in 2024, the Foundation has built programs like The KidLit Fest and several other initiatives that help children not only read and write, but to imagine and see themselves as part of a larger story.
To ensure that the box libraries contain age-appropriate children’s books that are as emotionally satisfying as they are educational, KLF has partnered with Nigerian publishers like Ayikwa Books, Kachifo Limited, and TAP Books as well as children’s bookstore Kiki ABC.
Present at the installation on May 31, and giving his stamp of approval was Dr. Yemi Osinaike, a consultant paediatrician and the Head of the Accident & Emergency Department at LUTH who expressed hope that this initiative would “become the symbol of something bigger, one that spreads to every hospital where children are cared for.”
The first KLF box library installation took place in September 2025 at the Paediatrics Department at the Gbagada General Hospital, Lagos with plans to spread the initiative across Lagos State and nation-wide in future.
Dr. Shamsuddeen Sani, a Kano-based medical doctor and public health specialist has praised KLF’s efforts as “fantastic.” Questioning why the practice of placing libraries in paediatric wards has yet to become a standard practice in Nigerian teaching hospitals, he argued for their immediate adoption. “The [clinical] evidence is fairly clear that children who read during a hospital stay recover better,”he stressed. “This keeps the mind active, and reduces boredom and anxiety.” He further voiced optimism that the box library campaign would also be replicated in rural and underserved communities.
Asked how the children at the KLF-partnered hospitals have responded to the box libraries so far, KLF’s Communications Manager, Mayowa Olulowo, remarked: “We’ve seen their faces light up. We’ve seen curiosity return. We’ve seen them look beyond the bed, the treatment, and the waiting. For us, that is the power of this project — reminding children that they are more than what they are going through.”
Other initiatives championed by the KLF include a public speaking mentorship at Senior Girls Grammar School, Ikoyi and ‘My Dear Nigeria’, a free storytelling experience at the Alliance Française for children aged 6 to 13. Both events are scheduled for June 2026.
- Featured image: Sope Martins and Dr Yemi Osinaike/courtesy of The Kid Lit Foundation
