Quentin Blake's magical art inspiring Book Bus children to read

“It’s a real privilege to be associated with the Book Bus promoting literacy in Africa and South America,” declared world-renowned children’s illustrator and Book Bus Patron, Sir Quentin Blake in a recent interview with us at the Book Bus. 

Book Bus Patron Sir Quentin Blake 

“I think that the Book Bus does amazing work, introducing books to children in remote areas of the world where there are few or no books at all. Can you imagine that? Growing up in a world without books?” asked Quentin.

Our Book Bus mobile libraries are a central part of our literacy programme, sharing books and other literacy resources with children, schools and communities in remote areas of Ecuador, Malawi and Zambia. Quentin’s illustrations adorn each of our Book Buses ensuring they make a huge visual impact with children as they roll into schools, open areas in the African bush and along mountain roads in South America. 

The children welcome Book Bus Charlie 

"Can you imagine that? Growing up in a world without books?” 

 “One day the founder of the Book Bus and my then editor, Tom Maschler, asked if I could illustrate the very first Book Bus,” continued Quentin. “I had been creating illustrations for books for years but nothing as large as a bus. I was delighted to contribute to such a magnificent project.” 

“It was such a brilliant idea to decorate the Book Buses,” exclaimed Quentin. “I realised that many children probably didn’t have access to books so I wanted to create illustrations that would ignite their imagination, be fun and colourful and convey the pleasure of reading.”

Sir Quentin creating wonderful illustrations

And he certainly achieved that. Quentin created an array of spectacular colourful illustrations to decorate our 5 Book Buses, George, Matilda, Alfie, Tiger and Charlie named after Roald Dahl characters. Each piece conveys movement, gestures, atmosphere and a great sense of fun. It’s almost as if each character has their own story to tell. 

Quentin’s illustrations include a book cart packed full of children engrossed in reading, a young child lost in the adventure of their book as they hitch a ride on an elephant and a young girl reading a story with an inquisitive lion sitting behind her (is he listening to her story or eyeing up his lunch the children ask when they study the illustrations on the side of their Book Bus!).
As we rolled out our additional literacy programme in Ecuador, Quentin created new illustrations including a giant tortoise and an Alpaca.   

Sir Quentin's illustrations spark imaginations

Quentin continued: “No one starts their lives being able to read, but very quickly as children we make sense of the world around us by looking at shapes and colours.”

“If you can get children engaged first in illustrations, their curiosity will lead them to then enquire about the words. Reading comes very soon after this.”

“What struck me about the with the Book Bus and its supporters,” added Quentin “is that they are providing books to children to help them develop essential literacy skills. They are sowing an extraordinary crop that is going to have a harvest that will go on and on for these children for the rest of their lives. It's providing much more than just literacy - it’s opening a door to the future in an incredible way.”

"The Book Bus is providing much more than just literacy - it’s opening a door to the future in an incredible way.”

“Once you spark curiosity – well that’s like a machine that creates its own energy and if you can get books to these children, sit with them, talk to them, read with them and develop that enthusiasm for reading, then you really don’t know what wonders that will lead to in the future,” Quentin added.

Special illustrations for the readers of Ecuador

“I’m so proud of the work the Book Bus does and I’m deeply touched to be involved with this wonderful project.  It’s been around for more than 10 years now and I have no doubt it will be around for many more years. The effects of the Book Bus does, and will last much longer and go much, much further that even we can imagine” Quentin concluded.

In 2016 Sir Quentin launched our latest and boldest literacy project I am a Reader. We want to get 10,000 children in Malawi and Zambia reading by 2020. If you believe that all children should have an opportunity to learn how to read, join our campaign. 

Book Bus Alfie: A shining star in Ecuador earthquake aftermath

"Book Bus Alfie has been the star for us. Everywhere we went, Alfie brought books for the kids.”

Back in April, a huge earthquake rocked coastal Ecuador, impacting many small communities including Puerto Lopez where our Book Bus programme is based. According to UNICEF, over 150,000 children have been affected.

In the wake of the earthquake’s devastating damage, the Book Bus and its volunteers have been working tirelessly to bring emotional and physical support to affected children and their families.

“After the earthquake, there were many people living unsafely in their destroyed houses,” says Arturo Rodriguez, Book Bus Project Manager in Puerto Lopez. “Now they are becoming homeless due to local municipalities needing them to move. The number of people living in refugee camps is increasing daily, but some families don’t want to move to the camps, so they stay outside, in the street…”

Homelessness is only one of many issues arising from the earthquake’s damage. Puerto Lopez and surrounding areas are also experiencing educational, economic and emotional instability following the quake. So how is the Book Bus helping?

“Book Bus Alfie has been the star for us,” Arturo goes on. “Everywhere we went, Alfie brought books for the kids, as well as help, people, balloons and everything that’s needed to try to get things back to normal. The objective is to give kids and their families emotional support.”

The Book Bus is also working closely with partner organisations, such as Fundacion Ecuador Tierra Viva, who are running a project in Las Lagunas—a small nearby community—bringing donations and small temporary houses to families whose homes were destroyed. The Puerto Lopez Book Bus team have also helped to distribute hundreds of copies of “Trinka yJuan: el día que se movió la tierra (Trinka y Juan: the day that the earthmoved”) – a book and social initiative started after the earthquakes in Chile and Nepal, intended to help families and children deal with the emotional stress following an earthquake. 

But there’s still more to be done. “We have a project to rebuild small schools around the province,” Arturo explains. “We also need to continue our project in the most affected zone. This work requires funds for gas, mechanical equipment for Alfie, materials for the kids and other expenses.”

Arturo and the other generous Book Bus and partner volunteers have seen first-hand the difference the project and donations can make in the wake of a disaster.

“Not much would have been possible without Alfie and the Book Bus programme,” Arturo continues. “Once the situation is controlled from the damage, it’s time to work towards getting back to normal.”

You can help Arturo, Alfie and the Book Bus team in Puerto Lopez make that happen. Donate today 

Latest news from Ecuador

The children of Ecuador have been having a whale of a time on the Book Bus since 2010. 

Sophie Karlsson is coordinating this year's project in Puerto Lopez 

(where humpback whales can be seen from the beach in July and August)

The Book Bus starts in Puerto Lopez on 24 June 2013

Read Helen Keep's experiences from the project last year:

Marta, Helen(c) and the children from Puerto Lopez

I spent two weeks volunteering with the Book Bus in Puerto Lopez, Ecuador, in 2012. It is a fantastic project, and seems to be very successful at enthusing the kids with reading - certainly they welcomed us with open arms every morning! Each session started with a warm-up exercise - everyone singing a song, complete with actions! Then we read a story to the kids, which they really seemed to enjoy - in fact, on one occasion, the kids in my group "took over" and all 6 of them (in unison!) very enthusiastically read the book to me instead!! After this, they did a craft activity related to what we had just read - making penguins, butterflies etc.

Puerto Lopez is in one of the poorer areas of Ecuador, and the general educational levels are not as high as in the West. The schools had very few resources, and very few books (other than those provided by the Book Bus). So it was wonderful to be able to help encourage the children with reading, as I believe this is essential in helping to raise the educational standards. Obviously the main aim is to help the kids, but I got a lot out of it too. It was so satisfying to see how much they enjoyed what we were doing with them. And it is a great way of learning about the culture of a country, and what real life is like there - you learn much more about what a country is really like than you would if you just visited for a holiday. We also got some free time each day, and at the weekend, when we were able to explore the area. And of course, my Spanish improved enormously!!
 
The people running the project were all lovely, and looked after us really well. I will certainly be doing this again in the future, and I would encourage anyone else to try it. It's making a massive difference to the kids, and it's also great fun.

Un abrazo

Helen

Preparing the Book Bus for 2013

The Book Bus in Ecuador is gearing up to start working with five schools in Puerto Lopez from 24th June 2013. Following discussions with the teachers we are developing a 10 week programme of reading activities based on themes relevant to the national curriculum,  everyday local topics and, to add international flavour,  to our other Book Bus projects in Africa and India. The schools in Ecuador are especially keen to develop links with schools in Africa and you can see why. The children here live much of their lives on the beach; whales, dolphins and sharks are commonly sighted and their family income is made from the sea. Compare this to life at our South Luangwa project in land-locked Zambia, where elephants, hippos and crocodiles can be seen on the way to school and where many of the families live off subsistence farming.

It's gratifying to know that children from these two very different communities have excelled at school, progressed to further education college and won scholarships to universities in the USA and Canada. The Book Bus continues to improve child literacy rates by working with teachers and pupils alike so that more children can have the opportunity to boost their education and their prospects for the future.

BISEE Book Bus Update

BISEE Book Bus Update, from Jenny Ávila, Volunteer Co-ordinater

The BISEE Book Bus continues working for the improvement of life through stories and fairy tales.  Children really enjoy the visits of the bus to their schools.  In April we had a few days in the Interactive Museum of Sciences.  This involved two Saturdays reading to 150 children and 150 young people.  It was an interesting experience, new to us but we had a good group of enthusiastic volunteers.

During April we also read at SEK School.  We had about 40 children writing their own stories and reading to younger ones of the same school.  They are going to donate these stories to the BISEE Book Bus. 

In May we started to build reading corners in the schools we have worked with in the last 3 months.  The headteachers of the school were very grateful. We also had a young writer who offered to train teachers or the person responsible for the corner, how to use the books and get the best of them. 

Last weekend we had “Maratón del Cuento”  a reading event dedicated to young children. For this event we recreated the BISEE book bus. For the first day we collected a little bit of creative material and children donated their drawings.  The second day our stand became a real reading corner.  We had families reading together and we let the children choose their own stories to read or have someone reading for them.  It was such a wonderful experience and a really good opportunity to let people know about the project.  We had one of the most popular writers of Italy, Anna Lavatelli reading on the bus for a few families that joined us.  It was also very exciting to meet a boy, 7 years old, who visited the bus with his mum. After listening to the stories of the bus and the history of it he told us he wanted to be a volunteer that moment and we gathered a group of families and Erick (his name) read for them.  He is willing to come and volunteer again if we have another time reading in Pichincha.  He also wanted to come with us one of the days to help us with the reading corner.  The weekend was so busy that we had the visit of about 2,000 children and their families. 

Last week writers from different countries got together to share their experiences and we had the chance to have them all on our bus.  They donated their books and were incredibly happy to know that this book bus is present in Ecuador.  We met 2 writers carrying out a similar project.  One was a Spanish writer who has a book bus in the Sahara and we were delighted learn about his project.  He gave us great insights to improve and develop more things about the project. 

In June we will continue the reading in the Museum.  We are also going to have the British embassy doing the reading corner this month together with one of the tour operators of Quito.  We also contacted some skilful children last weekend to join us to make the reading corners together with their families. 

This is so far all what we are doing with the BISEE Book Bus.

BISEE Book Bus at Quito's Interactive Science Museum

BISEE Books and Quito's Interactive Science Museum (MIC) join forces to promote literature and reading in the cityThe BISEE Book Bus was invited to attend as guest of honour at the inauguration of "Quito Lee" at the Interactive Science Museum (MIC) on Saturday 12 March 2011. "Quito Lee" which translates in English as "Quito reads", is a literacy programme aimed at encouraging children to read at least one book a month. The museum is promoting the programme in association with the BISEE Book Bus which will be parked on the museum site every Saturday to encourage children and families to climb aboard and enjoy reading our fantastic selection of children's story books.

Book Bus in Quito

The Book Bus is proving to be a big hit at schools in and around Quito. Our volunteer crews this week have included members of the South American Explorers' Club, the Peace Corps as well as our regular crew from Ecuador and the UK. The Bus will be guest of honour at the forthcoming launch of Quito's new Science and Humanity Museum. Children from our Quito schools have been working hard to produce a collection of artwork for display at the event. Masks have been a popular option whilst Peace Corps volunteer April produced a mini-theatrical event using puppets hand-made by the children.

All in all it's been a fun week with some excellent results. Keep it up crew!