Room to Read Blog

A Principal in Bangladesh Finds a New Voice on the Pages of a Children's Book

Rahamot Ullah is the Principal of Kishalay Girls’ School and College in Dhaka. “I have always aimed to be a friend to all my students,” he says, distributing a bag of chocolates to several of the school's tenth grade students.

In addition to running the school’s operations, Rahamot Ullah is also an avid writer, having penned many poems and articles on education issues in his native Bangladesh. It wasn’t until recently, though—when he came across a newspaper advertisement from Room to Read in 2010—that Mr. Ullah thought to combine his passion for teaching with his creative pursuits.

The ad was a simple one, like dozens more placed each year in periodicals across the ten countries where we work, but it struck a chord with Mr. Ullah. “Room to Read is seeking submissions from authors for Bengla-language children’s books,” it said, and upon reading those words, the principal began preparing his submission almost immediately.

When he heard back from our team, it was not good news. They explained to the principal that the greatest need in Bangladesh for children’s literature lies in books designed for very early readers. His stories, while captivating, were clearly written with more mature students in mind.

Not one to be dissuaded easily, Mr. Ullah worked hard to produce new stories that were more appropriate to the reading level described by our team, and in 2011 he submitted his work again. This time, he was elated to find that his stories had been selected.

The first step for Mr. Ullah after getting the good news was to attend an orientation for all new writers and illustrators working with Room to Read. There, he learned about how our Book Publishing program supports literacy across Bangladesh and how to write with a gender lens. He also learned that his book, once finished, would be distributed to hundreds of school libraries in rural villages, which for some students, would be their only option for reading material outside of their government textbook.

Next, Mr. Ullah attended a three-day residential workshop to revise his manuscript, a unique experience partially because of the company he shared it with. Other first-time children’s authors included a police officer, several university professors and a handful of journalists.

After the workshop, each author’s final manuscript was sent out into the field to be tested by students in nearby schools, while their creators awaited a final decision about which ten books would be published in 2011.

In the end, Mr. Ullah got the answer he was looking for, and his book, In the Land of Angels, was published late last year. Using rhyme, the book teaches children about colors through the familiar backdrop of Bangladesh’s countryside. “I am happy to know that a new generation of learners will be reading my book,” he says of his latest pursuit.

Learn more about our Book Publishing.

Hitting Another Room to Read Milestone: 10 Million Reasons to Celebrate

Today, in the Tien Giang Province of Vietnam’s Mekong Delta, Room to Read celebrated a milestone eleven years in the making.

At a ceremony held at Ngu Hiep 2 Primary School, founder John Wood and the Room to Read Vietnam team delivered a brand new box of books to the school’s library, symbolizing the 10 millionth book donated to our network of over 12,000 libraries in nine developing countries.

The emblematic book, Floating Market, is a Room to Read original title produced through our Local Language Publishing program, which comprise more than half of all books donated to date. It is also a “big book,” of which we’ve printed many in Vietnam—designed to help teachers and librarians facilitate shared reading activities.

The commemorative ceremony was indeed a moment of reflection and pride for our hard-working team, but most of all it was about the children we work with. The day’s festivities included literacy games, story time and a workshop lead by one of our talented illustrators, and attended by a bustling crowd of enthusiastic young readers.

Below are several photos of this morning’s ceremony, which we hope you’ll enjoy. After all, without our passionate community of supporters around the world, none of this would be possible. On behalf of the entire Room to Read family, thank you for joining us in our belief that World Change Starts with Educated Children, and for helping make it a reality.

 

 

Read the full press release related to our 10 millionth book milestone on our website.

Six Short Weeks: Room to Read’s First Ever (Mini) Film Festival!

Over the past year, documentary filmmakers James Connolly and Rachelle Escaravage visited Room to Read projects throughout Asia. They met the children and communities that are benefitting from our programs, and recorded their stories on film.

Now those stories are the subject of six mini-documentaries, each focusing on one aspect of Room to Read’s work promoting literacy and gender equality in education. Over the next six weeks, we’ll be releasing those videos one at a time—providing you with a closer look at our programs than ever before.

The videos will take you to India, Laos, Sri Lanka and Vietnam, inside the libraries, homes, classrooms and communities of the children we serve. So grab some popcorn, press play and enjoy the show!

 Watch the videos on our website.

Show and Tell: Accepting the UNESCO Confucius Prize for Literacy in New Delhi

This post is part of the ongoing series, Show and Tell, where we bring you photos and stories collected by Room to Read team members on the road. 

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Today's show and tell is hot off the presses. Taken earlier today in New Delhi at the UNESCO Literacy Day 2011 celebration, it shows Wilfredo Pascual, global program officer for our Local Language Publishing program, accepting the 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy on behalf of the entire Room to Read team. The award was presented by President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil and Dr. Qian Tang, Assistant Director-General for Education for UNESCO.

In Honor of J.K. Rowling's Birthday: Meet the Next Generation of Storytellers

"It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be." 

— J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)

Today is J.K. Rowling’s birthday, and in honor of her literary contributions (over 4,000 pages of them!), we bring you the story of two young women from Sri Lanka who are following in her footsteps.

At just 15 and 17 years old, respectively, Sarasi and Chathurika have already written and illustrated a successful children’s book with the help of Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing program.  Now, three years after the book was first published, the two girls reflect on their first foray into children’s literature, and what the future has in store for them.

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Three years ago, a small ad in a leading newspaper in Sri Lanka inadvertently brought two young school girls together for the first time. It was a call for submissions for a competition held by Room to Read that aimed to find and develop young literary talent in Sri Lanka, as well as identify potential authors and illustrators for the Local language Publishing program.

When the competition ended, 12-year-old Sarasi and 14-year-old Chathurika were among the winners. “I had participated in several competitions so when I was told that I was the winner, I was happy and all I expected was some kind of prize… I never thought that I would get an opportunity to write a story to be read by children all across my country,” says Sarasi.

Chathurika, too, did not expect the competition to be a life-changing event. “When I submitted my painting, I did not even know that I had this potential—I enjoyed drawing but never took it seriously,” she confesses. “But when I was selected, it made me realize that I can draw—it was a moment of epiphany.”

Thinking back to her days at the illustrators' workshop held for the winners, Chathurika says she is almost embarrassed by how “raw” she was, having never taken a formal drawing class before. “I had no idea about scale or shading or about the different mediums of this craft,” she says, "it was at the workshop that I realized that there was much more to drawing than just copying—I learned that there was indeed a method to this madness!”

It took her precisely 20 days to do the artwork for Sarasi’s 20-page story, Baby Fish Goes to School, which the young author says came to her almost immediately when she joined the writers’ workshop. “We had just put a civil war behind us and because my dad is in the army, the message of peace was at the top of my head,” she says.

Three years later—after becoming a much beloved children’s book in their native Sri Lanka, Baby Fish is back, with a whole new set of illustrations, courtesy of Chathurika.

Since their first foray into children’s literature, both girls have continued to develop their talents. Sarasi has even begun illustrating some of her own stories. “I have dreams of becoming an army doctor or a scientist,” shares the 12 year-old with confidence, who plans to continue writing and publishing her stories on the side.

Chathurika, on the other hand, says that art has become her life, having illustrated several more Room to Read local-language books since Baby Fish. After passing her exams, she has decided to attend art school, and dreams of one day holding exhibitions of her work. “I will always find time to do books for Room to Read however,” she says with a smile, “for after all it was Room to Read that showed me the way.”

Learn more about our programs in Sri Lanka.

Room to Read Honored by UNESCO with 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy

Big news came today from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s headquarters in Paris, France: the winners of the 2011 UNESCO Literacy Prizes have been announced, and Room to Read has been chosen as one of the awardees for the 2011 Confucius Prize for Literacy!

The award, established in 2005, recognizes the activities of outstanding individuals, governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working in literacy. This year, Room to Read's Local Language Publishing program was recognized for its success in producing and distributing high-quality, culturally-relevant books to young readers in Asia and Africa.

UNESCO’s selection committee also commended our commitment to increasing local capacity by working with local authors and illustrators to produce over 550 original local-language children's books to date. 

The Room to Read team will be on hand in New Delhi, India, on September 8 to officially accept the award at UNESCO’s International Literacy Day celebration, which includes a $20,000 grant to fund our programs. Photos of our work will also be on display as part of an exhibition at UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris September 5-11, alongside images from fellow 2011 Literacy Award winners from Burundi, Mexico and the Democratic Republic of Congo, and programs with Honorable Mentions from Pakistan and the Philippines.

We are extremely honored by UNESCO's choice to recognize Room to Read’s work, and by the thoughtful nomination submitted by Dr. Fernando Reimers of our board of directors.

Thank you to everyone who has invested in our literacy programs over the past 11 years—we could not do any of it without you!

You can read about all the 2011 Literacy Prize winners in UNESCO’s Press Release.

Learn about our Local Language Publishing program on the Room to Read website.

"Big Books" Help a Little Girl in Zambia Develop a Love of Reading, Despite Late Start

Meet Stella: a lively 3rd grader from Balmoral, Zambia.

Born the sixth child of eight to parents Phales and Patrick, Stella was a happy baby who seemed no different from her siblings. At three years old, however, Stella had not yet begun to walk, and it became clear that her development was not following the familiar pattern.

Doctors assured Phales and Patrick that their daughter was healthy, despite her developmental challenges. Relieved by this news, they vowed to raise Stella in the same manner as they had her older brothers and sisters, including enrolling her in the local primary school.

Stella began first grade at Balmoral Basic two years ago at the age of nine. Because the school has a special education program, she is able to get the extra support she needs, as well as attend classes with her peers.

The school also has a large library that Stella visits often. She is particularly captivated by the colorful posters and "big books", which she shares with our team when they visit. “Lyi ni sapato yaba mami,” (this is my mother’s shoe) she says with a smile, pointing to a poster on the library wall. 

"The posters and 'big books' enable her to indentify objects and relate them to her everyday life," says Room to Read Country Director for Zambia, Samantha Chuula. These supplementary reading materials are included in Room to Read libraries because they help to create a literate environment and encourage young kids to read. It's clear that they have helped foster a love of reading in Stella, despite her late start in school.

When asked about her favorite book, Stella proudly holds the “big book” version of Who Can Be a Friend. She's almost completely hidden by the book's massive cover, but peeking out from behind it, her face is all smiles.

Learn more about our Reading Room program and our work in Zambia.

Experts Converge for First-Ever Forum on Books for Early Readers

Last week, after many months of planning, field research and interviews, international experts, stakeholders and staff were brought together for Room to Read’s first-ever Early Grade Reader Forum. Over two days, the group discussed, debated and aimed to find consensus in two areas: defining high-quality children’s books for beginning readers and identifying the critical factors that enable these high-quality books to be developed in the countries where Room to Read works.

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The room was abuzz with old acquaintances reuniting, new colleagues meeting for the first time and a general excitement as the start of Room to Read’s Early Grade Reader Forum kicked off last week in downtown San Francisco. The excitement was justified, as this was the very first time this particular group of people had ever been brought together in the same room, in the same city, in the same country or even the same continent.

Included among the 45 participants were international early literacy experts, local language publishers and literacy researchers, who came from 10 different countries to join Room to Read stakeholders and staff for a two-day summit to discuss high-quality children’s books for beginning readers in developing countries.

The seed idea for the meeting was planted last year; Room to Read had just concluded an assessment of the availability of books at varying reading levels in the local marketplace in several of our countries. What we found was discouraging, and it became quite clear that there was a tremendous void in the development and production of books in Asia and Africa for children who are just learning how to read.

So when Room to Read Advisory Board Member, Dr. Luis Crouch, challenged the organization to put together best practices around developing high-quality children’s books for beginning readers, in true Room to Read style, our Local Language Publishing, Reading Room and Literacy program teams came together and the result was Room to Read’s first-ever Early Grade Reader Forum.

Ms. Oud Saysena came all the way from Vientiane, Laos hoping to gain a better understanding of guidelines for creating high-quality beginning reader books in her home country. She owns one of the very first private publishing companies in Laos, which just received government approval to operate last year. She also owns and operates Happy Moon Children’s Bookstore, and admits that in Laos, there is “no expertise or understanding of how to write books for beginning readers. There are no standards or local experts who can give advice or comment on what is good and the best quality for early readers.”

Local language publishers, including Ms. Saysena, participated in interactive panel discussions and breakout groups to brainstorm best practices, and many will be returning to their countries with clear steps to help them develop high quality beginning reader books—whether it’s creating a mentoring system to build the capacity of their writers and illustrators or looking at opportunities to co-publish titles with fellow publishing houses. It’s a promising start.

At the conclusion of the forum there was consensus on some of the issues, but also more questions to spur continued debate and creative solutions. Ultimately, as one expert reflected, “This forum created a sense of everyone wanting to pitch in and create a really authentic community. We’re coming from a deep place in our hearts and something in our personal histories to make it better for the children.”

Learn more about our Local Language Publishing program.

New Year Celebration in Laos is Awash with Tradition

April in Laos is a very wet time of year. Not only is it the start of the monsoon season and the time when farmers start planting most of their crops, it’s also Bpee Mai or Songkan— the Lao New Year—the most important celebration for Laotians worldwide. The festival, like the weather, is replete with water. On April 13, the first day of the celebration, water is used to clean houses and the village. The second day represents the day in between the old year and the new year. Strictly observed as a day of rest, only fun activities are allowed, the most popular of which is dousing friends and unsuspecting passersby with water.

The New Year officially starts on April 15, the third day of the festival. Young people prepare scented water with flowers and visit their grandparents, parents and elders. They rinse the elders’ hands with the water and ask for their blessing and forgiveness for any wrong-doings in the past year. At home, prior to enjoying a large feast, families engage in a special ceremony called "Baci" in which participants take turns tying blessed white strings around each other’s wrists to wish them good luck and prosperity for the new year. This tradition runs deep among Laotian people as an homage and blessing that upholds the value of life, and of social and family bonds.

Room to Read’s Lao New Year is a colorfully illustrated children's book about this annual holiday. The drawings, by Laotian artist Sikko Milakong, show the many elements of the New Year celebration, including families participating in the Baci ceremony and having fun splashing water on each other.

One of several oversized books published by Room to Read, Lao New Year’s large size makes it even more enticing to eager young readers. Room to Read started publishing “big books” in Vietnam in 2008 as a tool to help teachers and librarians interact more effectively with young children, many of whom are just learning to read. In addition to the books, Room to Read also provides supplemental instructional materials, such as teacher’s guides with questions and activities that further engage the children in learning.

Adding cultural relevance to our books allows children to predict words or easily familiarize themselves with them because they know what the people in the illustrations are doing and already possess the vocabulary that naturally accompanies the pictures. It also makes it easier for them to learn from activities they perform themselves, such as visiting the temples with family members to sprinkle water on Buddha statues.

As a global organization, we honor and respect the cultural traditions of our friends and colleagues worldwide—and we try to incorporate them in our materials so that children not only learn to read, but also learn that their traditions are respected by those outside of their local communities.

 

To our Lao friends and colleagues, all of us at Room to Read send a virtual bucketful of water and a warm "Sabadee pimai!" or "Happy New Year!"

Learn more about our work in Laos and our Local Language Publishing program.

 

Room to Read Celebrates International Children's Book Day

On April 2, the world celebrates International Children’s Book Day, a forty-four year tradition established by the International Board on Books for Young People on the birthday of esteemed children’s book author, Hans Christian Andersen. International Children’s Book Day is designed to inspire a love of reading among children and adults. At Room to Read, we celebrate reading every day, as we work to provide the materials, environment and skills for children in some of the more marginalized regions of the world so that they can discover the joy of books.

The theme of International Children’s Book Day for 2011 is “The Book Remembers,” which means that books are reflections of the time in which they are written. Thus, they are invaluable sources of history, as well as being entertaining and inspiring. Room to Read’s Local Language Publishing program holds culture and tradition as critical elements of the books we publish. We want to be sure the children reading these books can identify with the setting, the characters, the habits and speech –- for in seeing themselves and their surroundings, they are better able to understand and learn.

Last week, the two global office members of our Local Language Publishing team, Wilfredo (Wili) Pasqual and Sarah Stewart, had just returned from a 60-day, seven-country trip through south and southeast Asia. Though they were still fighting off jetlag and wading through unread email, they couldn’t wait to share some of unforgettable moments and colorful stories they brought back from their recent journey. The fast-paced tour was planned in an effort to survey the Local Language Publishing program -– its strengths and opportunities for growth. Along the way, Wili and Sarah met with individuals from all the various groups involved with putting local language children’s books into the hands of young and budding readers. Their notebooks and Flip cameras were filled with conversations with authors, illustrators, librarians, teachers, ministers of education, publishers, and, of course, some of the children enjoying the colorful and inspiring books filling the shelves of their libraries and schools and filling their imaginations.

One of these children was Kimlay, from a village near Siem Reap in Cambodia. Two years ago, Kimlay struggled to keep up with her school work. Because her reading skills were poor, she was very embarrassed whenever asked to read aloud in class. The librarian at her school saw a dramatic shift in Kimlay’s performance once a Room to Read library was established. With the encouragement of her grandmother and aunt, both of whom had attended school themselves, Kimlay became a voracious reader, checking out up to 10 books each day and staying up late to finish every book so that she could check out 10 more the following day. Kimlay is now ranked third in her class and continues to bring home a stack of books each night, many of which she reads to her young cousin.

What Wili and Sarah found as they traveled via plane, bus, tuk-tuk and footpath, is that, the value of children’s books is universal. The words and the pictures touch the soul and imagination of young minds eager to discover and understand their world.

On International Children’s Book Day, we honor the authors and illustrators who create these portals to places undiscovered. We honor the librarians and teachers who make these tools available to young readers. And we honor the children who happily and enthusiastically pore over the colorful pages as they journey to magical places.

Read more about our Local Language Publishing program.