The new Marshallese-English children's book Life in the Marshall Islands: Then and Now was successfully delivered to its authors this past week. Each author received a copy of the book that he or she helped write and illustrate. The fifth graders especially liked the "About Me" section. For more wonderful images, please see Deo Keju's Flikr page: https://www.flickr.com/photos/deo_keju/sets/72157644670407034/

Thanks to all those involved in this project! This book may be included in next year's textbook bundle for Ebeye Elementary School. Thanks also to the Marshall Islands Journal, who printed an article in both Marshallese and English about the book on May 9, 2014 (Vol. 45, No. 19, p. 8 and p. 20).

We hope that this book will inspire other Marshallese students to create their own stories and to be proud of their cultural heritage. The book can be found on Amazon here.

We are pleased to announce that the latest book from The Unbound Bookmaker Project has just been published. The 2013–2014 fifth graders at Ebeye Public Elementary School (EPES) have written and illustrated Life in the Marshall Islands: Then and Now. Click here for a look inside the book!

The project was directed by Susannah Prenoveau, an educator on Kwajalein and author of two children's books that her own children helped create. Sarah Jacquier was the editor and designer of this book.

Life in the Marshall Islands: Then and Now is about how traditional life in the Marshall Islands has changed through time. Each child chose an aspect of current Marshallese life and culture—coconuts, boats, shells, birds, money, clothes—and compared it to how it was used in the past.

The book is written in both Marshallese and English, with the help of many Marshallese translators and reviewers.

Many thanks to the students—who are now authors and illustrators—as well as to Ms. Dribo, Ms. Lorennij, the vice principle of EPES, Dori DeBrum, Angelo Lelet, Eltina John, Mesko Alfred, and Leonora Kabua. Supplies were provided by Ethel Nelson, and the educational grant from the Kwajalein Yokwe Yuk Women's Club and the fundraising efforts of Shannon Paulsen's Kwajalein 4-H Cooking Club, as well as additional individual donors, helped fund the project.

Each of the 36 children involved receives a copy of Life in the Marshall Islands, as does the school library.

On March 1, 1954, the U.S. conducted one of sixty-seven nuclear tests. This one was code-named Castle Bravo.

The wind carried the nuclear fallout to other atolls in the region, including Rongelap Atoll, where Katner Tima lived as a young boy. This is his account of that day, the evacuation that took place soon thereafter, and how the rest of his life unfolded, including his conversion and dedication to the LDS Church.

The Kindle version of Katner Tima's short account, entitled My Story as a Survivor of U.S. Nuclear Tests in the Marshall Islands, can be found here. The print version will be available on Amazon next week.

I am happy to announce that WAM: Canoes of the Marshall Islands is available on Amazon.com now (click the image to follow the link to Amazon). It was a beautiful project in and of itself, but it also prepared The Unbound Bookmaker for the upcoming barrage of WorldTeach books. Many thanks to the students at WAM, Alexis Bilyard, Kathy Hutton, Alson Kelen, Linton Baso, Daryle Newman, and Zoey Meyers for all their work in this very collaborative project. It was truly a pleasure.

As we prepare for the major endeavor of typesetting 23 books for The Unbound Bookmaker Project, I have been able to finish a very sweet project. Melba Kaye Smith, my grandmother, wrote up her experiences and I had the privilege of making it into a book. It took over a year and I had the help of my grandmother, my father, my aunt and uncle, and perhaps a little help from above as well in creating this 135-paged history. My Grandma Kaye had what I would call a tough life: she worked hard on a farm in Hooper, Utah; she had her little finger cut off by a farm machine; she experienced appendicitis and the mumps; she was involved a terrible car accident that nearly decapitated her and left her on the edge of death for many months; her father died after getting caught in a hay baler; she had a sad divorce that left her with four little children; she worked herself to the ground to support her family by herself; she had the awkward experience of a second marriage and being compared to her new husband's first wife.

And yet . . .

Mr. Savu Waisake's fourth grade class from last year finally got their own copy of The Important Book about Majuro! We did the project too close to the end of the school year, so as new fifth graders they received the fruits of their labors. It was very rewarding to read through it with them. We hope to create similarly rewarding experiences for 23 WorldTeach volunteers and their classes this year!

Please donate so that other children can receive their own copies! You can purchase The Important Book about Majuro here on Amazon.com, but since the project receives not a penny from the sale of these books, we ask that you donate separately to support literacy in the Marshall Islands!

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

Sorry for the long absence. I have had quite a few projects on my plate—and still do. My tutorial practice has been usurped by real-world experience, so I'm not complaining. I would like to post here, however, that at the end of last year The Unbound Bookmaker produced a complete book, entitled The Next America: Moving Beyond a Fragile Economy.

I worked with the author, Don Holbrook, from start to finish. He gave me the raw manuscript, and I first did the ghostwriting. Since this is a political book, and he and I have different political opinions and philosophies, I had to be very careful that I kept my voice and my opinions out of the book. We worked for several months on the manuscript, with many emails and reviews going back and forth.

It was a great article to edit. Written by Dominika Borowicz at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Title: "A Coming of Age: Germans Deal with Their Past through Memory Literature." http://tinyurl.com/6l7qk9l

I'm happy to report that with the help of Carol Phillips (illustrator) and Sarah Jacquier (co-editor), the Dippolds' book went from scattered chapters to an edited manuscript to a typeset document to a fully designed book available on Amazon. It is the definition of The Unbound Bookmaker at its finest: helping an author from manuscript to printed book. Here is the summary of It's Not What I'm Eating . . . It's What's Eating Me!:

One day, Dot was contemplating her life with an alcoholic father, husband, and son. Someone commented on the food she was eating and her ongoing problem with an ulcer. She responded, “It’s not what I’m eating . . . it’s what’s eating me!” Len Dippold (Dot’s son) and his faithful wife, Daffy, discuss the healing needed not only for the addicted but also the loved ones of the addicted. Using plenty of wisdom, humor, and personal stories, they show how programs like Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon have helped them in the process of overcoming this family disease. This book is sure to spark insights on how you too can overcome your challenges and addictions.

It has been a great project. To break up the seriousness of the subject, the Dippolds added a quotation of wisdom at the beginning of each chapter and a joke at the end of each chapter. Even though I don't have an alcoholic addiction myself or in my immediate family, there are certain chapters in this book that I particularly appreciated and made me want to be a better person. I don't consider this a self-help book; I consider it a recognition that you CAN'T do it all by yourself, that you need a Higher Power and your family and friends to both face your problems and conquer them.