Big Brother Mouse

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.

For three years, Alyson regularly visited Laos from a temporary base in Thailand, exploring the feasibility of the project.

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.

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 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.

[6] 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.

[11] 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.)

The following sample list of titles shows the range of books the project has produced:[4] Lao law does not have a provision for non-profit organizations of the type that exist in many Western countries.