Monthly Archives: March 2013

Here in the West, more and more of us are reading our books on digital devices. In the developed world, eBooks provide immediacy (buy in one click and start reading) and convenience (carry a library of books on a single device). In the developing world, where millions of people lack access to even rudimentary library services, eBooks can be far more impactful. In fact, eBooks can be life changing as people can, for the first time, have access to a (digital) library of books.

Today, more people in the world have access to a mobile phone than a toilet. Just think of how powerful it would be to put a library of eBooks on mobile phones.

Our nonprofit partner, Worldreader, has done just that. Worldreader has an application on an amazing new platform called biNu. A super fast and free mobile phone application, biNu brings a smart phone experience to users of the basic phones which account for approximately 75% of the world’s mobile phones. Budding Reader is proud to be a part of this initiative. The first Budding Reader eBook Set, Cat and Rat, is one of the first two children’s picture books available on this application.

Today, thanks to Worldreader and World Literacy Foundation, children are learning to read with Budding Reader eBooks in homes and classrooms in places like Nigeria, Uganda, Ghana and Rwanda. Tomorrow, thanks to new digital technologies, the rest of the world may have them, too.

Can new technology bring books to all? We think so and are delighted to be a part of it.