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.

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.

Big Brother Mouse intends to change 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 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.

Our first six books came off the press in March and April 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.

In our first year, we published 30 books. Now we're continuing to publish new books, while also developing ways to get books into rural villages that never had them.

What's different about Big Brother Mouse?

Big Brother Mouse is not an NGO. It is a Lao-owned project, with a Lao staff. Volunteers from abroad are helpful in many ways, but everyone shares the goal of helping young Laotions 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. For the children present, it may be not only the first time they've discovered that books can be fun, but also shows a wider range of possible jobs that they themselves might hold one day.