Children's Books and Reciprocity

I've been in Bolivia for almost 2 months today (I can't even believe it!)  and at the end of the program we have the amazing opportunity to do an independent study project on any topic, pretty much anywhere in Bolivia!  I have a few ideas floating around but one thing I know for sure is that I want to write a Bilingual Children's book!

In order to write the book I have to raise money to publish them... it's always about the money.  But here in Bolivia 'la reciprocidad' is part of daily life and for me, this book is a great way to not only give back to the Bolivians that have taught me so much but also to share a part of my experience in Bolivia with children and people outside of Bolivia.  Right now my plan is to either focus my book on a specific style of music/dance specific to Bolivia, to collect legends for a rural village and using one of those for the book or maybe working with a theater group in El Alto that encourages homeless children to experience the arts... Yes, lots of ideas! I will definitely keep everyone updated as to what I will write the book about, but I'm also going to make this a cooperative effort by enlisting the help of a few of my very talented friends that are SAIC graduates to help illustrate the book to perfection!!

It costs about $400 US dollars to publish 500 books, and $600 to publish 1000, so it makes much more sense to try to publish 1000!  And just think, that's at least 1000 kids that get a new book!  And if it goes to a library or a school that's even more than 1000!!!

The Kids Books Bolivia Project (which I will be working with) was founded by one of my academic directors, Heidi Baer-Postigo, in 2008 and she will also serve as my advisor on the project.  She will not only help connect me with communities and Bolivian children's book authors, but will also serve as a liaison between myself, the publishers and together we will decide where to donate the books!

If you donate just $6 that guarantees you a book!! Or you can choose to donate it to a specific school here in Bolivia, in the states or anywhere abroad.  Even if you don't feel you can donate to this specific cause, I'd appreciate it if you would pass this project along to your friends and family so that we can add a new book to libraries around Bolivia and beyond!

If you have any specific questions I encourage you to please ask!!  I will update the webpage regularly as I continue to work out the kinks, and maybe since you follow my blog you will get sneak peaks of the book itself!  :)

http://ourworld.worldlearning.org/goto/carly_k

I thank each and every one of you in advance!

Bilingual Children's Books for all!!

Carly