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!
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! Many thanks to Office Mart, Payless, EZ Price, and Copymasters for donating all the materials we needed! We also used the supplies from the first pilot project at Co-op, so thanks too to Ethel Nelson for providing those. . . . as well as something extra for the classes. Good luck, WorldTeach volunteers!
Thanks to Becky Lathrop, artist and principal at Co-op high school, for providing a workshop on how to teach art. There's a fine line between teaching skills and allowing the artist to express himself or herself in a new way, and Becky's teaching allowed for both. WorldTeach volunteers will be teaching both the writing and the illustration portions for the book project. Not an easy task! Thanks again, Becky! The workshop was very enjoyable. The WorldTeach HQ contacted Laura Sundblad, the recent Field Director of WorldTeach in the Marshall Islands, about doing a podcast detailing what the The Unbound Bookmaker Project is, how it works, and its importance in promoting literacy in the Marshall Islands. Here it is! We are still needing donations to make the Marshallese children's books (the kids write and illustrate them with the help of the WorldTeach volunteers, I publish them, and then each child, school, and volunteer get a copy). If someone—or a group—provides for a whole class ($480), then you or your group receives credit within the book.
I think we always talk about encouraging literacy in the world, but this is the easiest, most direct, and most efficient use of funds to directly impact Marshallese children, who have very few books. For some, especially on the outer atolls, it will be the first book they own. 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. |
Get UpdatesJamie ZvirzdinWhile I still edit science books and help kids create stories, I've moved my focus to writing science-based fiction and non-fiction stories. See more at www.jamiezvirzdin.com.
Categories
All
Archives
April 2016
Links for Self-Publishing Authors
How to Self-Publish a Book on Amazon 25 Things You Should Know about Self-Publishing How to Publish an eBook Lulu vs. CreateSpace Excellent Links for Learning
Learn Photoshop Learn Illustrator Learn Web Design Learn HTML Business Card Ideas Resources Free Fonts Identifont Ilovetypography Typographica Typophile COLOURlovers Clker.com Photoshop Textures We Love Brushes L&T Textures Tutorials Photoshop Actions |