About us
In 2012, more than 125,000 rural Lao children got a book, typically the first book they had ever owned, through a Big Brother Mouse book party sponsored by people like you.
Big Brother Mouse is our literacy ambassador. Big brothers and sisters in Laos take care of younger children in their family. Big Brother Mouse wants every one of his little brothers and sisters to have fun learning to read.
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Traditionally, books have been rare in Laos. The number of children who go to school is slowly but steadily increasing, yet many children have never read a book outside of school textbooks. Few Lao people think that reading can be fun, can add to their education, or will provide information to improve their quality of life.
Big Brother Mouse is changing that. This publishing project was started by a retired American publisher working with several bright and dedicated Laotian college students. Our staff now includes high school students and recent college graduates. Together, we look at the books that children have enjoyed most anywhere in the world. We think about what underlying concepts made those books successful. Then we ask if those concepts could be used in Laos, with new Lao content and pictures. We published our first books in 2006. Some are just in Lao; others are in both Lao and English, making them useful not only for our primary audience – Lao children – but also for people of any age, who speak either English or Lao, and are learning the other language. What's different about Big Brother Mouse?Big Brother Mouse is not an NGO. It is a not-for-profit, Lao-owned project, with a Lao staff. We're helping young Laotians develop new skills. When we have a rural book party, or hold an art contest at a school, young Lao men and women lead the activities and make the presentations. Children discover that books can be fun. They also discover a wider range of possible jobs that they themselves might hold one day. We are Lao-based. All planning and decisions are made here in Laos, based on and often adapting to the conditions we face. All of our paid staff are Lao. We're getting things done. That's not easy, in a country where infrastructure is still often lacking. Please visit our Photo Album to see just a sampling of the thousands of events we've held, so that rural children in Laos can own their very first book. Stay up-to-date: A few times a year we email a newsletter to supporters and others interested in our activities, tell about our latest projects and progress (or roadblocks!), problems, ideas, staff, and anything else of interest. We do not send rent, sell, or provide our email list to anyone else. To get the newsletter, please see the "Contact us" page.
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Indeed, in the past, it couldn't do any of those things. Very few books were published in Laos, and they never reached the villages where most people lived.