Project Advocate: Joan MacCracken MD
Outline of Project: Research indigenous folk tales; select one; recruit a Nicaraguan artist to
illustrate it; produce a bilingual book; market and sell the book with proceeds to be used to
promote literacy in Nicaragua.
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Accomplishments of Project August 2007-2008: We have had four wooden chests made in
Bilwi to transport and store books. There will be 40 books per box. Spanish children’s books
were carefully selected to be culturally sensitive. The books were in the PIH shipment in
December 2007. The boxes will be taken to four villages on the Rio Coco. Hopefully, we will
assist the villages in setting up “Story Hour” for the village children to hear the stories. For
many of these children it will be the first time they have seen beautiful books.
These books (160) have been purchased with money raised by the sale of Trisba &
Sula: A Miskitu Folktale from NIcaragua/ Una leyenda de los Miskitos de Nicaragua by Joan
MacCracken and illustrated by Augusto Silva, published November, 2005 by Tiffin Press. The
book has won two awards, one from Criticas Magazine selecting the book as among Best
Books of 2005, and in May 2006 Skipping Stones Magazine, a multicultural children’s
magazine, named it a winner in the bilingual category.
Goals for the next year: We hope to visit many more villages.
Funding: Donations; sales of Trisba & Sula
Volunteer Visits: November 2007
Next Visit: 2009