These books are opening children's minds
Seven-year-old Evans has a big imagination – and thanks to our amazing donors, it’s growing every day.
“Reading feeds my imagination,” he says from his home in Vanuatu. “When I read, I know new things. I know about space now!”
But books have been hard to access in Vanuatu, and most of its children – 79% of those in year 4 – don’t meet minimum literacy standards.
Library for All
With the support of our donors, Library For All is providing all 56,000 of Vanuatu’s primary school children with books that are tailored to engage young children like Evans. Library For All is a global initiative of Save the Children which supports literacy by delivering culturally relevant books, so children everywhere can learn to read.
The books are tailored to their communities by creating them with local authors and illustrators, with stories that are centred on the lived experience of the people reading them. When children see their language, their culture and their everyday lives on the page, they read more, understand more, and go on to become engaged learners.
Mirrors and windows
The books are a carefully considered mix of ‘mirrors’ and ‘windows’: mirror books have stories in which a child can see their own life reflected back to them; window books give children glimpses into experiences different to their own. In Vanuatu, Library For All found there was as real shortage of mirror books for children and set out to change that.
Evans’s mum, Leah, says these types of books are exactly what Vanuatu’s children need: “I think [the books] are really good,” she says. “It gives them a sense of pride that their culture and their traditions have been written down just like any other place in the world.”
The books are also feeding Evans’s endless curiosity, as Leah adds: “He asks questions most of the day until he goes to bed. I just have to tell him, ‘Look, leave some for tomorrow!’”
Leah is amazed by her son Evans’s endless curiosity and sense of adventure.
The sky is the limit
Every book he reads helps carry Evans far beyond his island home: into space, onto racetracks, and into new possibilities. He dreams of becoming an island chief like his grandfather, but also wonders about black holes, robots on Mars and even alien invasions.
“When I’m done being chief,” he says, “I can go and discover space!”
Evans loves to read in his school’s library.
Thanks to supporters like you, thousands of children like Evans now have books that inspire their imagination. The books are also helping them develop lifelong reading skills today, and opportunities for who they can become tomorrow – with every page offering a step toward a bigger, brighter future.
You can visit Library For All’s website to learn more about our work to bring culturally relevant books to children all over the world.