Today the Embassy of Taiwan presented WorldTeach with $480 for a class book. They chose the topic of solar power, which will be a great asset to Marshallese children and families since Taiwan has already donated many solar-powered technologies to Marshallese living in the outer atolls. Today, in fact, Ambassador of Taiwan George T. K. Li signed an agreement with the government of the Marshall Islands concerning the donation of many solar-powered laptops and computers.

This is not the first time the Embassy has provided help to the outer islands of the RMI; many Marshallese in the outer islands have small reading lamps donated by the Embassy, lamps that function using solar power.

Many thanks, Ambassador George T. K. Li and the Embassy of Taiwan! We are looking forward to teaching the children about solar power and helping them to turn around and teach many others through their class book. The Ambassador strongly supports education and we are grateful for his support of the project.

Other organizations wishing to donate and choose a topic can do so before July 25, 2012, before the WorldTeach volunteers begin their training. Sponsored topics will be given out at that time, although we will be fundraising and accepting general donations for the rest of the year.

Lauren Pallotta, amazing artist and former WorldTeach volunteer and Field Director, is supporting The Unbound Bookmaker Project! Purchase prints of her art pieces "Heita" or "Ido," which feature her students from Airok (Ailinglaplap Atoll), and $10 of the proceeds will be directed to the project. Thank you, Lauren!

Click on the images to go to Lauren's Etsy shop.

The Important Book about Majuro by Mr. Savu's fourth grade class is now available for sale on Amazon.com. Click here to see it!

The book costs $8.42, which is the at-cost price (60 full-color pages). We do not receive any royalties on any of the children's books, so please be sure to donate on our designated WorldTeach donation page.

We hope you enjoy the book! Anybody who has spent any time in Majuro will recognize some key elements that the children captured

This morning Laura Sundblad and I were interviewed by Heather Jarvis, a journalist for Radio Australia. We spoke about how the project got started, and how the pilot project went, and what's going to happen next for the children in the Marshall Islands. We felt it went really well and we were able to express most of the important aspects of the project. If you haven't done it yet, don't forget to donate!

Primary school students write an 'Important Book about Majuro' | ABC Radio Australia

Dear Friends,

We are excited to announce that the body of children’s literature in the Marshall Islands is about to undergo a transformation. For the 2012–2013 academic year, WorldTeach Marshall Islands has partnered with The Unbound Bookmaker, an online publishing business that will take the stories from students all around the Marshall Islands and publish those stories on Amazon.com in the form of a class book. The children will have the opportunity, with the help of their WorldTeach volunteer, to write, revise, edit, illustrate, and finally receive their own copy of the book at the end of the school year.

I haven't updated this blog very frequently—too many good things have happened and there's not enough time in the day to chronicle it all. But, I would like to start using this blog to provide updates on how The Unbound Bookmaker Project is coming.