ACCOMPLISHMENTS
THROUGH THE YEARS
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2015
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In 2015, Books & Beyond USA collaborated with New Jersey students spanning different ages and education levels—the fifth graders at Charles H. Bullock Public School in Montclair and the college students from the Enactus Club at Monmouth University’s Business School in West Long Branch. Approximately 2,500 copies of the alphabet book they created together, “I Eat an Egg with an Elephant,” were delivered to the students at Bisate Primary School in Rwanda’s rural mountain region.
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2016
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In 2016, about 350 participating American students created two new books, which were delivered to 2,500 Rwandan students that summer. Students at Newark Arts High School in Newark, NJ, were responsible for the first of the two, a preschool book covering the alphabet, counting, and basic colors. This ultimately became Volume I of BBUSA’s “Under One Moon” preschool series.
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Meanwhile, three schools in New Jersey—Viola L. Sickles Elementary School, Joyce Kilmer Elementary School, and Red Bank Middle School—joined forces with Jackson Preparatory and Early College in Michigan to create the second book, “Our Planet, Our Home.” This science-themed secondary school book approached topics such as climate change, ecosystems, agriculture, and the atmosphere, including four UN Sustainable Development Goals illustrations to enhance the learning experience.
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2017
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In 2017, a group of almost 50 talented student-artists from Jersey City Arts High School in Jersey City, NJ, crafted the illustrations for Volume II of the “Under One Moon” series. The book was distributed to students in eight Rwandan preschools.
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2018
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With its summer 2018 delivery, BBUSA added another 4,000 books to its ever-growing total. Newark Arts High School students, excited to participate in the program again, wrote and illustrated Volume III of the “Under One Moon” series. This edition, which they titled “Friends,” focused on celebrating diversity.
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Student authors and illustrators from New Jersey, Wisconsin, and Russia also worked together that year to explore more mature concepts in the primary school book, “A Peaceful Place.” Readers of this book can learn more about conflict, resolution, and unlikely friendships through the lens of Rwanda’s wildlife and conservation efforts.
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2019
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BBUSA's 2019 preschool book series name changed from Under One Moon to Under One Sky. We all live under one moon and under one sun, ergo...Under One Sky. The twenty-five artists who illustrated the new book series attended Sol Studio. Sol Studio, located in Jersey City, New Jersey, is a pre-college summer studio residency for high school students gifted in the visual arts. The program’s mission is to support young students by giving them the space, materials and guidance necessary to develop true artist portfolios. This student collaboration resulted in a mixture of realism and whimsy, Eight Rwandan preschool children, totaling 700 students, were given their own copy of "Leaping Letters" to take home and share with their siblings, parents and community.
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2020
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In the winter of 2020, the Visual Arts Engaged class of Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School began classroom work on the Books and Beyond USA service-learning project. The class is a high school elective that encourages students in grades 9 – 12 to use their creative energies for social change. Twenty-one students and two dedicated teachers remotely created "Baskets of Fun Under The Sun", a stunningly beautiful English language preschool book for eight Rwandan preschools during a historic pandemic.
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