When Win Thuya left Bagan to further his education in Yangon, what astonished him most about city life were libraries. “Seeing so many books in one place,” he remembers, “was incredible for me.” 

The area he grew up in is rich with history, culture, and pagodas from past centuries, but there were no libraries–until Win Thuya returned home with the ambition of creating one. And with eight hundred books and magazines, in a building rented in the town of New Bagan, the Kuthodaw Library was born.

“We started with two bookshelves, two long tables, and a bench, all of which were donated,” Win Thuya explains, and donations continue to keep the library alive nearly three years after it first opened its doors. 

It is a free library, and is heavily used by the community of New Bagan. The collection has almost 3000 books and periodicals, both in English and in the Myanmar language, with a great demand for reading material written in Myanmar. The library has over 120 users; “Most of them,” says Win Thuya, “are students.”

His dream is to include computer rooms and classes in English conversation and computer basics. Already the library has been able to provide support for a small primary school in a nearby village through donations from travelers and residents.

Information on how to contribute to this library can be found in the forthcoming book, To Myanmar With Love.  For those who are interested in making donations to Luang Prabang’s @My Library, featured in a post last week, go to the Language Project for more information.

It’s easy to forget how much libraries add to our lives, and how much people in other countries yearn for the chance to read books for free.  And it’s easy to help make that chance possible–may we all do what we can.

Who knows better what young readers want than another young reader? Christopher Paolini goes to show that he certainly knows–his Inheritance cycle, consisting of Eragon, Eldest, and Brisinger, with a final installment in the works, has captured the imaginations of children, young adults, and adults too, all over the world.

The home-schooled son of parents who owned a small publishing business in rural Montana, Christopher Paolini found himself with time on his hands after graduating from high school when he was 15, and with a novel that he had begun the year before. He spent a year writing Eragon, his parents published it,  bestselling writer Carl Hiasson’s stepson read it and loved it, and suddenly Christopher was a Knopf author, published by Random House in the U.S. and the U.K.

A voracious bibliophile and devotee of libraries, Christopher was a reluctant reader as a child, and credits his mother for enticing him to love the printed word. Certainly she must be proud that her encouragement not only made her son a lover of books, but a writer whose goal was to write a book that other 15-year-olds would want to read.

He certainly has accomplished that–his first two books have sold over 15.5 million copies and are in print in 50 languages–a testimony to youthful talent and to parents who stressed the joy of reading!

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!

If sunlight and warmth have hit the almost-polar regions of the Pacific Northwest, then it must be summer everywhere in this hemisphere–time for lemonade, picnics, beaches, long days spent outdoors, and lots and lots of books!

Summer reading is its own special category of literature–it’s the time of year when we remember that books are instruments of delight and amusement. It’s also the time of year when so many other things compete for our time and attention that reading sometimes is put aside until autumn and the required reading lists roll around.

When The Papertigers blog first began, Corinne had a wonderful post that discussed summer reading programs presented by libraries (which, Marjorie told us, also takes place in England under the wonderful name of “reading schemes.” Wouldn’t you rather scheme than take part in a program?) and said that she and her children celebrated the end of school by going to their library, signing up for the reading program, and going home laden with books. What a splendid way to mark the beginning of summer!

Of course not everyone lives near a library that offers such a program–I certainly didn’t when I was a child–or perhaps a crowded schedule of sports, summer camp, and family vacations prevent participation in a library program. For these people, we invite you to make The Tiger’s Choice your summer reading program. It fits into any schedule since you can comment when you are ready, on your computer, at any time of the day or night. It welcomes readers of all ages who love children’s literature, so you can discuss books with your friends, your parents, or even your teacher! It’s also a great way for youth group leaders to supplement their own summer activities with discussions about books, or for educators to stay in touch with their students.

If the monthly selections don’t appeal to you, tell us what you are reading on your own and why you like it–you may help someone else to find a new favorite author. (This is what happened to kids who responded to our Asking the Kids questionnaire–Geronimo Stilton and Young James Bond now have new readers.)

We’ll keep track of your suggestions and comments–when the end of August comes around we hope all of us will have found new books to love and new ways at looking at old favorites. Please join us!

And please add your comments to our discussion of The Boy in the Striped Pajamas, which will end as June draws to a close.