Big Brother Mouse is a Lao-based, Lao-owned project. We started in 2006, publishing books that make it fun for kids to learn to read. Now we're also publishing books that provide older readers with access to the information, ideas, and pleasure people in many countries take for granted.

Until now, few books were published in the Lao Language. Many Lao people never saw a book. Children in most villages had nothing to read except textbooks, and often not even that. Big Brother Mouse is already changing that, but we still have far to go.

We're not just a publisher. Much of our time is spent giving hands-on experience to young people as they learn new skills: writing, editing, translating, desktop publishing, business, and organizing events. We're also experimenting with ways to distribute books in a country where currently, there's no good system for that.

Big Brother Mouse is based in Luang Prabang, Laos; we also have shops in Vientiane and Luang Namtha. Please come visit if you're in Laos. If you're not, you can learn more from this website, and we hope you'll want to help.

Left: Children in a rural Lao village at a book party sponsored by Big Brother Mouse. At these 3-hour events we talk about books, sing songs about books, and play games. At the end, each child gets to select a book of their own – it's nearly always the first book they've ever owned. Then, we leave a "Swap Box" that acts as a mini-library. Literacy rates are increasing in Laos, but with nothing to read in most villages, the interest and ability to read soon disappear. Come see what happens at a book party!