Kids' Books Bolivia is a series of bilingual children’s books researched and written by undergraduate students on the SIT Study Abroad Culture and Development Program in Cochabamba, Bolivia. This project contributes to the production of affordable books celebrating Bolivian reality and serves to raise international awareness about Bolivia’s rich cultures and pressing social issues. The project was created in 2008 by Academic Director Heidi Baer-Postigo.
We use all proceeds to subsidize low-cost books and book donations to Bolivian children, schools, libraries, community organizations and literacy programs.
All of the books in this series are bilingual (Spanish and English) and some are trilingual in one of Bolivia’s 36 indigenous languages.
Bolivia has the highest percentage of indigenous citizens in the Americas and the lowest per capita income in South America. Most of the children’s books available in Bolivia are imported, expensive, inaccessible and culturally irrelevant. The majority of public schools do not have libraries. The books in our series are designed to celebrate Bolivia’s diversity and affirm the cultural identity of a people who hosted our authors with open arms.
About the Director
Heidi Baer-Postigo founded Kids’ Books Bolivia in 2008. She has worked in international education for over 15 years and has been an Academic Director of the SIT Study Abroad Culture and Development Program in Bolivia since 1999. She has her master’s degree in counseling from the University of Oregon and her bachelor’s degree in psychology from Occidental College. Her interviews with Aymara women of the "Centro Femenino Machaq Q'hantati" were published in Women: Stories of an Experience (1993) by Silvia Salinas Mulder. She has lived in California, Oregon, Germany and Mexico. She currently lives in Cochabamba, Bolivia with her husband Julio and their two children, Maya and Pablo. She co-directs the SIT Bolivia program with Ismael Saavedra.
Her preface for the Kids’ Books Bolivia series describes her motivation for creating this project:
"Ayni" is a Quechua word meaning “reciprocidad” in Spanish, or “reciprocity” in English. It is one of the most important characteristics of Andean “cosmovisión” or worldview, and has defined and shaped relationships between individuals and communities in the Andes for centuries. As cross-cultural educators for U.S. college students in Bolivia, my co-director and I have put a high value on finding ways in which our students and our program can truly engage in “ayni” -- giving something meaningful back to a country which gives so generously to those of us living here both temporarily and permanently.
I inherited from my mother a love of children’s literature. This is a love I hope I am instilling in my own bicultural children. I spend hours browsing through bookstores in search of books which will affirm and celebrate their Bolivian identity. Beautiful examples of such books do exist, but they are few and far between. Most of the children’s books available are imported, expensive and inaccessible to the majority of the population.
In the spring of 2008, two of our students produced a bilingual children’s book for their final Independent Study Project, which was one of the most compelling examples of “ayni” I have seen. It inspired me to create “Kids’ Books Bolivia,” a book series which contributes to the production of affordable books for Bolivian children and raises international awareness about their rich cultures.
In the fall of 2008 I had the privilege of guiding five more students as they engaged in “ayni” and added to the growing series of books celebrating the country which has hosted them with open arms for the past three and a half months. I hope you enjoy the books in this series as much as I do.
About the Website
Artwork for this website was created by Denali Weiler, SIT Bolivia Spring 2003 alum.
Technical expertise for this website was provided by Jim Rudolf.
Thank you for your patience as we work to complete the Spanish version of this website.