School classes in many other countries have helped us publish new books and get books into more Lao villages.

The Year 2 class at Melbourne Girls Grammar School, in Australia, held a Readathon. Students asked family, friends and neighbors to sponsor them as they read books; as a result, they sponsored an astounding 11 book parties at rural primary schools in Laos, with more than a thousand children getting their first book. You can learn more about what they did at Melbourne Readathon

Dunannie School in Hampshire, England, has sponsored two books. Most recently, they held an art auction which raised enough to sponsor a Lao adaptation of Peter Rabbit, plus two rural school book parties.

Hong Kong International School has sponsored books twice. Another school held a book sale. Everyone donated books they were finished reading. The money from the sale was enough to sponsor a book party.

Mirjam, a teacher from Karl-Schubert School in Graz, Austria, visited Laos and Big Brother Mouse in 2010. She told her class about us, and they read Yuli's Story. (You can download and read it too, below.) They opened "Yuli's Shop" where they sold some things Mirjam had brought back from the night market here, as well as used books, and other items.

In Australia, after they saw how exciting it was for children here to see a new book, one class donated enough to sponsor a new book.

If your class would like to do that, we have several materials to make it more interesting:

Yuli's Story

We asked a boy in Laos to tell about his life. Here is his story, with many photographs. The text is in English, French, and German.
Free download

The Little Elephant That Could

If you sponsor a book party, what will happen at it? Although a bit fictionalized (Boom-Boom, our book elephant, can't actually talk) this book shows the Mouse team in action, along with an inspiring message about not giving up. Lao and English. Illustrated.
More about this book | Free download

A Hmong Boyhood

James was born in a Hmong village high on a mountain, with no electricity roads, running water, or roads. Here he tells about his life, first in that village, then living on his own so he could attend middle school and then high school in the town below. His story is in English, with many photos.
More about this book | Free download

One Mouse and Seven Cats

This book was originally written to introduce Lao children to simple arithmetic concepts. The pictures depict many scenes of everyday life in Laos, which are probably quite different from life in your country. For this PDF, we've added background information at the end, in English, explaining each picture. Lao and English. illustrated.
More about this book | Free download

Some of the other books on our free downloads page may also be of interest.

Our donation page gives details. Teachers and parents who work with classes to sponsor a book party are providing a wonderful opportunity for children in their country to think about the value of reading, as well as making it possible for more children in Laos. Thank you!