Abigail Sawyer regularly reviews books for us here at PaperTigers, and she’s also, in her own words, “a lifelong library lover and an advocate for access to books for all”, so who better to write an article for us about “unconventional libraries” and the children’s books they have inspired. Abigail lives in San Francisco, California, USA, where her two children attend a language-immersion elementary school and are becoming bilingual in English and Mandarin: an experience that has informed her work on the blog for the film Speaking in Tongues. I know you’ll enjoy reading this as much as I have.
On Traveling Libraries and Heroic ‘Book People’: Inspiring children’s books about getting books to people in remote places and difficult circumstances
My sons and I paid our first-ever visit to a bookmobile over the summer. For us it was a novelty. We have shelves of books at home and live just 3 blocks from our local branch library, but the brightly colored bus had pulled up right near the playground we were visiting in another San Francisco neighborhood (whose branch library was under renovation), and it was simply too irresistible. Inside, this library on wheels was cozy, comfortable, and loaded with more books than I would have thought possible. I urged my boys to practice restraint and choose only one book each rather than compete to reach the limit of how many books one can take out of the San Francisco Public Library system (the answer is 50; we’ve done it at least once).
The bookmobiles provide a great service even in our densely populated city where branch libraries abound. There are other mobile libraries, however, that take books to children who may live miles from even the nearest modern road; to children who live on remote islands, in the sparsely populated and frigid north, in temporary settlements in vast deserts, and in refugee camps. The heroic individuals who manage these libraries on boats, burros, vans, and camels provide children and the others they serve with a window on the world and a path into their own imaginations that would otherwise be impossible.
Shortly after my own bookmobile experience, Jeanette Winter‘s Biblioburro (Beach Lane Books, 2010), a tribute to Colombian schoolteacher Luis Soriano, who delivers books to remote hillside villages across rural Colombia, arrived in my mailbox to be reviewed for Paper Tigers. I loved this book, as I do most of Winter’s work, for its bright pictures and simple, straightforward storytelling. Another picture book, Waiting for the Bibiloburro by Monica Brown (Tricycle Press, 2011), 
tells the story of Soriano’s famous project from the perspective of one of the children it
Two facts about me - I love reading and donkeys! So it makes sense that one of my favorite PaperTigers posts was Marjorie’s Books At Bedtime: Silly Mammo - an Ethiopian folktale. Marjorie shared the story of Yohannes Gebregeorgis, his book Silly Mammo, his organization Ethiopia Reads and his amazing donkey-drawn library in Ethiopia. Yohannes’ donkey-drawn library has been so successful that three more officially went into service during a gala inauguaration ceremony on January 10. These libraries will bring books and learning materials to children who live in rural areas surrounding Awassa, an agricultural town in southern Ethiopia. Check out these photos of the inauguration.
In 2008 Yohannes was voted one of CNN’s Top 10 Heros of the year and had this to say:
I think the recognition that Ethiopia Reads has received is primarily for the recognition of the importance of literacy to the development of a country’s future; for its power to change individuals and society. What we’ve accomplished in the last six years is a drop in the ocean compared to the need. It’s a good beginning that needs to be kept alive and going until we cover all regions of Ethiopia.
The accomplishments of Ethiopia Reads are amazing. Over the past six years, it has established two free public libraries for young readers and 16 school libraries which, combined, have had over 100,000 visitors. Library and literacy training has been provided to about 120 teachers and assistant librarians. Ethiopia Reads has published 8 children’s books and distributed over 30,000 books at no charge to children with another 75,000 to be given over the next six months to a year. An annual Ethiopian Children’s Book Week is held in early April in Addis Ababa, and a new children’s book award – the Golden Kuraz Award - rewards literary excellence and encourages the writing and publishing of high-quality Ethiopan children’s books.
… to Yohannes Gebregeorgis of Ethiopia Reads, who has been named one of CNN’s top 10 heroes of the year - voting is now taking place to choose the Number One!
I blogged about Yohannes’ book Silly Mammo a few weeks ago, and his amazing donkey-drawn library in Ethiopia - and it’s great to see such recognition for his work.
Following on from our meeting with librarians-turned-publisher in Bologna, I recently discovered Silly Mammo by Yohannes Gebregeorgis (African Sun Press, 2002), the first ever bilingual English/Amharic book. It’s the story of a boy who keeps making mistakes by following instructions given in hindsight – starting with his mother telling him to put his earnings into his pocket so he doesn’t lose them (ie coins)… and then he is paid with a bottle of milk, which he then pours into his pockets… and so the story progresses: until he wins the hand of a beautiful girl by making her laugh. It’s a delightful story, which will make young listeners laugh aloud.
The illustrations are by Bogale Belachew, an Ethiopian artist, who has given the story a contemporary setting. This reflects the books initial raison d’être, which was to provide Ethiopian children with a story in their own language from their own culture.
“Yohannes emigrated to the United States half a lifetime ago. He became an American citizen. But he came back, giving up a comfortable life as a children’s librarian in San Francisco, because it bothered him that while Ethiopian kids may go to school, they have no books.”
He founded a mobile library with a difference in Awassa, Ethiopia: drawn by donkeys; and has then gone on to publish books for children to read in local languages. Silly Mammo was the first of these.
The book is available from Silver Chicks, with all proceeds going to EthiopiaReads (check out their blog too), also founded by Yohannes.
Read this article (where my quotation above comes from) and watch this video – the faces of the children say it all!
