Free gift of Book Dash makes you wish you were three again
THE social entrepreneur who started Book Dash, Arthur Atwell, explains how it works and how it is growing new readers in South Africa:
I have always known that common sense says reading books to children makes them smarter. Only recently have scientists really proven it: reading books with young children helps their brains grow faster, boosting their vocabulary, comprehension and attention spans.
Given the high cost of books, only wealthy families can afford them. But now, there’s a way to slash the cost of books dramatically, making it possible for organisations to give away high-quality books to children whose parents can’t afford them.
But why give them away? Surely people must pay something, rather than getting a handout?
After 20 years in book publishing, I’ve come to believe there are no “market solutions” to growing a book-loving nation. For most South Africans, books are a luxury they could never afford.
UCT’s Unilever Institute showed recently most families live on less than R6 000 a month. They often turn off the fridge before the end of the month – they’re out of electricity, and there’s no food in it anyway. It’s wishful to think they will ever be able to buy books, at any price.
The only way to grow readers is to print books in huge numbers at low cost – with philanthropic money – and give them away. And this is not just some idealistic, pie-in-the-sky idea. In the UK, for eight years already, every school-going child has been given free books on World Book Day.
The challenge here is finding the books. They can’t be bought from traditional publishers, whose overheads are much too high for this. And they have to be in local languages, which very few local publishers produce. We need high-quality books that anyone can translate, print and distribute without permission. That’s the gap that Book Dash fills. Book Dash gathers professional writers, illustrators and designers who volunteer to create new children’s books. Once a Book Dash book is complete (written, illustrated and designed), anyone, anywhere, is free to re-use it. It can be freely downloaded, adapted, translated, printed, republished, sold or given away. If you read a Book Dash book, it’s as good as anything you will find in a bookstore. But the astonishing thing is that Book Dash books are produced in just 12 hours, at highly organised Book Dash events. The professionals who create these books pour their hearts and souls into them, producing high-quality work that is, entirely, their gift to the world.
By next month, Book Dash and its partners will have given away more than 50 000 books in its first two years.
It is “an immeasurable gift for South African children,” said Puleng Motsoeneng of not-for-profit organisation Ntataise.
“I wish again.”
There are thousands of digital versions in use, too. In her own time, software developer Rebecca Franks created Book Dash’s popular Android app.
When we give books away, we go and meet some of the children and give them books in person. And there’s nothing more wonderful than giving a book to a three-year-old and seeing them dash to a corner, open it up and start reading.
● Reading and telling stories with your children is a powerful gift to them – it builds knowledge, language, imagination and school success. For more information about the Nal’ibali Story Power campaign or to view Nal’ibali’s powerful PSA promoting mother tongue languages, visit www.nalibali.org .
Icould be three years old