DO YOU HAVE A BOOKCLUB?
DO YOU LOVE READING?
DO YOU LOVE KIDS?
......Then you're gonna love this......
The backstory: A few weeks ago I was in a village home for the day and the shy little four year old girl (Angela) was more than I could resist. I asked her "Do you have a book to show me?"....sly smile, tentative hand holding as I'm led into the receiving room of the compound. In the corner is her play area with a giant Barbie playhouse where seven - yep seven - Barbies live. After a while I ask "But where are your books?" Angela looks about and finds one dusty cookbook with photos and brings it to me. We 'read' this for a time, delighting in naming the foods, and fun was had by all.
I begin some research to be sure I haven't just misunderstood, and I haven't. Village families rarely have books for the children because reading is seen as a necessary function in life, but not a leisure-time-delight. Plus books are expensive in Mexico even for families that can have Barbies. Of course I begin dreaming of putting one or two books into tiny hands, mentioning to my friends who are coming to visit to bring some kids books in Spanish along.
......BUT.......luckily I find LibrosParaPueblos! They have a website if you get bitten by this bug like I did, but everyone should enjoy one minute of pics by clicking on the video below. One minute. Do it.
In a few weeks I'm going to visit one of the 70 village libraries Librosparapueblos provides, so hopefully I'll have some great photos and stories to share. Meanwhile, if you or your book club would like to provide a new village with this gift, you can do so for $250 a year. Two-hundred-fifty. Pretty good price for opening up a world of possibilities, heh? Here is the website for librosparapueblos
Dear Janie, I love this!! Thank you so much for sharing your experience with such a worthy cause. I'll check out Libros Para Pueblos immediately! xox R. in Santa Fe