Storytime for Little Worms | Guest Post by Bianca Ksoll of Moonjami Press

Imagine my delight when I discovered this amazing event that focuses on diversity in children’s literature called, Multicultural Children’s Book Day. Imagine my despair when I discovered I had missed the deadline for the MCBD2018.

BUT, the fine folks at Multicultural Children’s Book Day offered me the opportunity to share my story on the MCBD blog and thrilled to be able to do so.

My name is Bianca and I am a new children’s book author and publisher who is currently based in Lao PDR.

But I wasn’t always an author. In my lifetime I have been a child rights advocate, policy advisor, and researcher with over 15 years of experience in international health and human rights working for the government, large companies, think tanks, media outlets, and non-profit organizations. Currently, I am the President/Founder of Global Content Group, Inc. along with being the CEO of Moonjami Press.

My first children’s book, The Mouse from Laos, is part of a series to stimulate curiosity and tolerance among young readers.  I developed Storytime for Little Worms/Worm Families and story-making workshops at NamChai Community Center as well as Tiny Yogis in Laos. My goal has always been to create books that allow kids to learn lessons while being entertained.

Our first book in an 88+ picture book ‘I am’ series, The Mouse from Laos just arrived in the US. The Mouse from Laos offers a peephole into a lesser-known land with a simple map, a national landmark, Lao greeting, flag and other teachable moments about animals, colors, shapes, patterns… A bit quirky and repetitive, everything children love. Although simple and silly, this series is created to stimulate curiosity and cultivate tolerance. There is an underlying theme of identity.

In April we will be releasing two more books, The Peacock from Bangkok and The Kitty from HoChi Minh City. Each book is created for small hands, soft cover and 36+4 pages. Originally I wrote the book for ages 0-6 but we have found it is ageless…and have facilitated readings with art activities with 10yo.

But I also have an additional mission of giving back to others and 5% of our net proceeds from the book supports Teaching Tolerance program at Southern Poverty Law Center. Our book sets (bag, book, t-shirt, and stickers) support companies run and staffed with youth with disabilities in Lao PDR. As a company founded by a health and human rights advocate (me) we celebrate diversity in all its forms!

Bianca actively supports literacy in Laos and Southern Poverty Law Center’s Teaching Tolerance initiative —her products are produced by Lao female-led business and people with disabilities.  Bianca received a Master’s in Anthropology from the Graduate Faculty at New School for Social and Economic Research in New York (2004) and LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany (2018). She currently resides in Vientiane, Lao PDR with her spouse Christian, two children Aidan and Anéli and their dog Kujo.