Big Brother Mouse

Big Brother Mouse is a not-for-profit publishing project in Laos.
Big Brother Mouse publishes books that improve literacy and quality of life; and on making those books accessible, particularly in rural Lao villages. Books are scarce in Laos. Many people have never read anything except old textbooks and government pamphlets.
The project uses the slogan, "Books that make literacy fun!" Its first books, published in 2006, were easy picture books designed to have a strong appeal for children. Since then, it has expanded to publish books for all ages, "designed not only to make reading fun, but also to share information about the wider world." A growing number of titles focus on health, nutrition, history, and science.
History.
The founder, retired book publisher Sasha Alyson, first visited Laos in May, 2003, and discovered that many children in Lao villages had never seen a book. In fact, he himself “never saw a book in Laos. That gave me the idea for a publishing project here, that would both teach publishing skills and create books.” He began exploring the feasibility of such an idea.
For three years, Alyson regularly visited Laos from a temporary base in Thailand, exploring the feasibility of the project. He met with governmental officials, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), teachers, and students. During that period, Alyson also worked with two Lao college students: Khamla Panyasouk and Siphone Vouthisakdee. Together they developed five easy and entertaining books for children, often using popular books from the west for inspiration about how to make books appealing. These first five books were:
Three of the books were illustrated by Ounla Santi, a Vientiane art student who has continued to illustrate many books for the project. Two others were illustrated by Tha Tao and Taeng Thaotueheu, high school students who placed first and second in an art contest that Alyson sponsored in an effort to find promising young illustrators.
Publishers in Laos are required to have a special publishing license, and each book must be registered with and approved by the government. At the end of 2005, Alyson entered into an agreement with Dokked, a Vientiane-based publisher, to act as publisher for these first five books. They came off the press in March 2006, under the Dokked imprint, but also carrying the Big Brother Mouse logo. The following month a sixth book, "The Big Chicken", was published in a similar cooperative arrangement with Action with Lao Children, a Vientiane-based NGO.
Soon after that, Sasha agreed with Khamla Panyasouk, author of one of the first books, that they would form a new entity to act as publisher for future books, with Khamla as the owner, and Alyson as the volunteer adviser. In June 2006, Khamla graduated from college, obtained his business license, and then received a publishing license. It was, according to officials, the first publishing license they had ever awarded in Luang Prabang Province, and required extra research for them to learn to how to do it. (It is Lao custom to identify people only by first names, even in formal situations. This article uses that first-name convention for people living in Laos, and last names for people living where that usage is customary.)
First book parties.
Although many organizations had expressed interest in purchasing children's books if they were available, few actually did so. Big Brother Mouse began exploring other ways to get books into distribution. On 29 December 2006, they went to a school in Ban Nunsawat, a rural village on the outskirts of Luang Prabang. Khamla discussed the importance of books, Siphone talked about writing books, and Tha Tao gave an art lesson. This developed into the rural school book parties that later became the primary distribution mechanism for Big Brother Mouse books.
In its first year, Big Brother Mouse published 30 books, and has continued at approximately that rate. It continues to run book parties in rural schools, and that program has expanded considerably, with 31 of these events in 2007, 196 in 2008, increasing to 510 in 2010.
Village reading rooms.
In 2008, Big Brother Mouse began experimenting with another way to create book access in rural villages, by setting up small reading rooms in the home of a volunteer. This is still conducted on a smaller scale than the school book parties. At the end of 2010, there were 146 of these reading rooms, largely in the Ngoi District of Luang Prabang Province, sponsored by the Planet Wheeler Foundation (founded by Lonely Planet publishers Tony and Maureen Wheeler) and the Global Development Group of Australia.
The project aims to continue making books available, through village reading rooms such as these in other regions of Laos. This commitment was one of three that was highlighted at the plenary session of the Clinton Global Initiative, held in Hong Kong in 2008.
Tourists also help with distribution. "Give books, not candy", Khamla encourages visitors who want to take a gift when they go to a rural village.
The name.
The Lao name for the project is "Aai Nuu Noi" which literally translates as 'Older brother that is a small rodent'. (Lao uses a single term, "nuu", for mice, rats, and other rodents, then distinguishes between types by using adjectives such as small, big, wild, etc.) In deciding on an English translation, Alyson originally considered "Brother Mouse" to avoid any confusion with the Big Brother of George Orwell, but finally decided "Big Brother Mouse" was a catchier name, and that most people would understand it was not related to the Orwellian connotations.
People.
All of the paid staff are Lao, and three of them are owners:
Books.
As of the end of 2010, about two-thirds of the books published by Big Brother Mouse were intended for children up to age 12, although they are also enjoyed by adults, who have not seen such books before. The following sample list of titles shows the range of books the project has produced:
Organizational structure and affiliations.
Lao law does not have a provision for non-profit organizations of the type that exist in many Western countries. Big Brother Mouse operates under a standard Lao business license, but on a not-for-profit basis. In 2010 it reported total income of US$326,000, from these sources:
Most US donors contribute through the Laos Literacy Project, Inc., a 501-c-3 non-profit organization in the United States that was established specifically to support Big Brother Mouse's literacy and education work.
Significant support also comes from Planet Wheeler Foundation and the Global Development Group (GDG) in Australia, and most Australian donors contribute through the GDG to receive an Australian tax deduction.