South African Sign Language (SASL) is South Africa’s 12th official language.
Yet Deaf children in South Africa face steep barriers to language learning: most are born to hearing parents who don’t sign, and limited stories are available in SASL. By the time they reach school, many have almost no language foundation.
“Communication access isn’t there – they’re deprived of language,” says Vanessa Reyneke, the project coordinator at Handlab. This communication gap can also make it harder for parents to bond with their children.
Through its partnership with Book Dash, Handlab – a curriculum material development project at Stellenbosch University – is working to turn that around: it is translating the full Book Dash library of 221+ books into SASL.
This takes longer than translating into a written language, explains Reyneke. SASL is a visual language, so the Handlab translations are filmed. “We can’t just edit out signs. When we do a full story, we do it in one go, and if anything needs to be redone we do it from the beginning again.”
It also requires awareness of how Deaf children learn and make sense of the world. For example, children’s books often use illustrations to expand the storyline by showing things that are not written, but it helps Deaf children’s understanding, learning and vocabulary acquisition when the story echoes the images.
It’s important to think visually, says Ayesha Ramjugernath, who works on quality control at Handlab. “Many children’s books are built around sounds — “splash,” “slosh,” “boom!” — but Deaf children experience the world through movement, rhythm, and expression. We have to find visual equivalents for those ideas.”
Ramjugernath had the opportunity to do this firsthand at Book Dash’s signature book-making event in September 2025. In just 12 hours, a Handlab team created a brand-new story – this time, one that originated in SASL.
As the book’s author, Ramjugernath says, it was “freeing and empowering” to create a book from a Deaf perspective. “Usually, books are based on hearing experiences, sound, spoken language, and hearing world concepts,” she says. “But this time, I didn’t have to ‘translate’ – I just signed naturally, the way I would tell a story to my own child. The English writers had to find the right words to match the richness of our signs!”
The result was Mom’s Hands, a tender story about a child and her Deaf mother inspired by author Ramjugernath’s own childhood. “My mother used her hands to create stories that came alive through movement, facial expression, and love,” says Ramjugernath. “I imagined Deaf children who might have hearing parents who don’t know how to sign, and how much they miss out on that same connection I had with my mom.”
Ramjugernath believes the story will resonate with Deaf and hearing audiences alike. “For Deaf children, it’s a reflection of their world,” she says. “For hearing parents, it’s a gentle invitation: you can connect with your Deaf child through simple signs. It’s not about perfect language, but about shared love and visual communication.”
Book Dash adapted its book creation model – including interpreters and a video editor, adjusting workflows, and even placing the Handlab team near a speaker so Deaf members could feel the music and the party vibes.
The fast-paced event was intense, says Lenka Knoetze, who illustrated the story, but ultimately rewarding. “You realise there are deep wells of ability you never knew you had,” she says. “What stood out is how cherished everyone felt. You left feeling like a hero.”
Adding SASL stories, including Mom’s Hands, to the Book Dash catalogue is not just about supporting Deaf children’s language development. It helps hearing parents learn sign language; creates opportunities for Deaf creatives; exposes Deaf children to signers from different regions; and allows Deaf children to see themselves represented, says Ramjugernath.
“This model works,” she says. “Hopefully people will copy it in other countries in their own sign languages.”
Books are not just a powerful tool to develop early language skills – they also support the positive parent-child interactions that young children need to thrive.
That’s why Tanzanian non-profit TECEC, a Book Dash open content partner, is integrating book ownership into its early childhood development programmes. With funding from Theirworld, they translated four Book Dash titles into Kiswahili and printed 30,000 copies for 10,000 families.
“We wanted the books to be a tool for parents to engage with their children, especially in their homestead,” says Elizabeth Joseph Kaduma, Director of Programmes and Operations at TECEC (which stands for Tanzanian Early Childhood Education and Care).
“The type of communities that we are serving, most of the time they cannot even afford to have one book in their households,” says Kaduma. “Our baseline revealed limited parent-child interactions in many households, [and]…limited awareness among some caregivers of the importance of early interaction with their children.”
Book Dash books were a great fit for TECEC, Kaduma explains, because of their quality, alignment with programme goals and resonance with Tanzanian culture. They chose Zanele Sees Numbers, Tone’s Big Drop, I Can Dress Myself and Why the Owl Never Sleeps at Night to emphasize themes of literacy, numeracy, self-care, the environment, language development and parent-child bonding.
TECEC is distributing the books through existing channels, like their home visiting programme, clinics, schools and community meetings, and sharing the books on its website. Parents also receive training on how and why to interact with young children and how books can help.
“We didn’t stop at book distribution,” says Kaduma. “We wanted to provide hands-on training which would empower caregivers, build bonds and transform everyday moments into learning opportunities.”
The collaboration demonstrates the mutually-beneficial nature of partnerships where other organisations adapt and share Book Dash books with a wider audience. Book Dash supported TECEC to secure funding from global children’s charity Theirworld to get the project off the ground. Book Dash assisted/guided/partnered with TECEC to apply for funding from global children’s charity Theirworld to get the project off the ground.’ or something like that?
TECEC’s translations and programmes get more books to more children, while Book Dash shared guidelines and expertise to help TECEC navigate the challenges of planning and executing a large print run with local suppliers.
Distribution kicked off in May 2025. While it’s not easy to reach remote, underserved communities, it’s starting to pay off. “The book distribution is already enhancing parent-child relationships and turning reading into a powerful tool for connection and development,” says Kaduma.
“Our target is not just to finish here,” she adds. “Book ownership should be a core part of TECEC’s long-term early childhood development support.”
It’s time for our annual Book Dash sale
At only R15 a copy it’s a steal!
Take advantage of this incredible offer to snap up quality authentic African storybooks. You can use the books to boost your organisation’s resources, as a gift to loved little ones, or to donate in kind.
We do this because giving books to young children to love and own has been shown to make a huge difference to:
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the development of their literacy skills,
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their socio-emotional skills,
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their level of school-readiness,
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and their future in general.
And we want to make giving books as affordable as possible for you and your organisation.
To see what books are on offer, or to place your order. Place your order now to avoid disappointment as we work on a first come first served basis.
Orders are open until 30 November 2025 or while stocks last.
Any questions, please email zaib@bookdash.org.
The problem – and the opportunity
In South Africa, two-thirds of homes with children do not have a single picture book – and around the world, millions of children are in the same boat. Traditional publishing systems are not designed for affordable, universal book ownership.
Why does this matter? When children own books from a young age, families read together more often, which builds children’s vocabulary, general knowledge, attention span, empathy, creativity and self-esteem. As they grow, these children are happier and healthier; perform better across school subjects; complete more years of schooling; and access better jobs as adults. Books make the biggest difference in the most disadvantaged households – and even a few books can make an outsize impact.
The Book Dash solution
Book Dash is a social impact publisher of open, African picture books for very young children. We work with creative volunteers to create and distribute high-quality books for preschool children to own at a fraction of traditional publishing costs. And we share our content and our model freely under an open licence, so people around the world can (and do!) use it for exponential impact.
Our impact
Since 2014, Book Dash has created 211 open-licensed storybooks and hundreds of translations. Working with 175+ partners, it has distributed more than 4.5 million books across South Africa for children to own. More than 100 organisations in dozens of countries have also adapted, remixed, published and printed our books to reach many more children and families.
Why support Book Dash?
When you partner with Book Dash, you’re supporting a systemic solution designed and run by a high-impact, innovative and cost-effective non-profit organisation. We’ve received more than a dozen awards; achieved unqualified audits since 2017-18; and earned a reputation for strong governance, management, reporting and thought leadership.
Our cross-sector work supports Social Development Goals (SDGs) including:
- 4.2 (Early Childhood Development)
- 3 (Good Health and Well-Being)
- 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth)
- 10 (Reduced Inequality)
- 1 (No Poverty)
In South Africa, contributions are tax-deductible and eligible for B-BBEE points.
From the start, we built Book Dash to enable scale. With more support, we are ready to massively increase distribution, help others replicate our model, and advocate for systemic shifts that will land more books in children’s hands and homes – ultimately fuelling economic growth and breaking cycles of inequality.
Early book ownership isn’t just a nice idea – it’s an evidence-based intervention that improves learning and life outcomes for children.
Read on to learn more about what happens when children own books, and why it makes such a difference.
What are the benefits of owning books from a young age?
Research has shown that young children who own books get ahead, even after controlling for things like parents’ education level and income. For example:
Children who receive books to own have stronger early literacy skills than their peers.
A meta-analysis of 44 studies programmes that give books to young children found that kids who received books to own before age 2 had better vocabulary and early literacy skills, before and during the early years of school (de Bondt et al 2020).
These programmes also increased children’s interest in reading and parent-child book sharing, and improved the home learning environment.
Programmes with demonstrations, information sessions or multiple personal contacts with caregivers were more effective.
“In comparison with [more expensive] family literacy programs, the effects of book giveaway programs on literacy skills are impressive. … From a cost-utility perspective, book giveaway programs seem to be a valuable investment.”
Children with even one book are more school-ready than their bookless peers.
Across 35 mainly lower- and middle-income countries, preschool children with at least one children’s book at home were twice as likely to be on track in foundational literacy and numeracy than children without any books (Manu et al 2019). This was true after adjusting for household wealth, urban/rural settings, mother’s education level and child’s age.
“Making children’s books available to children is a cheap and feasible intervention that could change home dynamics to improve the future economic fortunes of children, especially in the poorest countries.”
Children with many books at home complete more years of school.
Across 27 countries, including South Africa during apartheid, children who grew up in homes with many books completed three more years of school than children from homes without books, even after controlling for parents’ education, occupation and class (Evans et al 2010). The impact was greatest for children whose parents had the least education. And in homes with few books, each additional book led to more benefit.
“Regardless of how many books the family already has, each addition to a home library helps the children get a little farther in school. But the gains…are larger at the bottom…in getting children from modest families a little further along in the first few years of school. Moreover, having books in the home has a greater impact on children from the least educated families.”
Children with many books at home have stronger skills and better jobs in adulthood.
Across 31 countries, children from book-rich homes had stronger literacy, numeracy and IT skills in adulthood, and accessed better-paying and more prestigious jobs (Sikora et al 2018). This was true after controlling for parents’ education, own educational attainment or own occupation. The effect was strongest for disadvantaged children.
Why do books in homes improve early and lifelong educational outcomes?
When books are present in homes, it enables and encourages reading and book sharing (looking at and talking about books in an open-ended, playful and child-led way). And sharing books with young children, starting from birth, is one of the most effective ways to set them up for lifelong success.
A synthesis of research shows that book sharing with preschool children:
- Promotes verbal interaction with adults, which builds oral language development;
- Improves children’s vocabulary, including both receptive language (understanding what other people say) and expressive language (using words to convey meaning);
- Improves children’s ability to manage their attention, which supports later learning;
- Gives children opportunities to build general knowledge and learn about their world;
Helps children develop secure attachments to caregivers, which supports their later happiness, social competence and ability to form meaningful connections (Huston 2023).
A synthesis of research shows that book sharing with preschool children:
- Promotes verbal interaction with adults, which builds oral language development.
- Improves children’s vocabulary, including both receptive language (understanding what other people say) and expressive language (using words to convey meaning).
- Improves children’s ability to manage their attention, which supports later learning.
- Gives children opportunities to build general knowledge and learn about their world.
Helps children develop secure attachments to caregivers, which supports their later happiness, social competence and ability to form meaningful connections.
How do we know that giving children books leads to more reading? Don’t people need training and support to use books?
Books work best when paired with some support: literacy skills improved more in book giveaway programmes that included either demonstration, information sessions or multiple personal contacts with caregivers (de Bondt et al 2020). However, while some encouragement is beneficial, even light-touch support can go a long way (Knauer et al 2020). And when books and book sharing are introduced in a community, even people who don’t receive books directly can benefit from a “spillover effect” (Ebert et al 2024).
How exactly do books change behaviour?
In South Africa:
- 93% of adults agree that reading to children before they can talk helps them learn (Polzer Ngwato et al 2023); but
- Only 32% of parents actually read with children aged 6 and under (Rangasami et al 2023).
Why? Just like other behaviours that are good for us, like eating well or exercising, there’s a gap between awareness and action. Even when parents know it’s important to share books with preverbal children, they need an incentive or “nudge” to actually do it. Physical books at home can provide that nudge, in a way digital books or books at school cannot (de Bondt et al 2020). That’s why Book Dash is working hard to increase book ownership in homes.
Wordless books are a powerful tool for literacy promotion and development.
They have a number of benefits, including:
- They can invite more interaction and more complex discussion during book sharing, because parents are less bound by the text on the page.
- They can spark more parent elaborations, questions and feedback, more child contributions and more interaction than picture books with text.
- They support richer interactions about characters’ mental states.
- They develop children’s critical thinking, comprehension, creativity and expressive language. In South Africa, these skills are vastly underdeveloped in comparison with reading accuracy.
- They help primary school teachers build bridges between oral storytelling, “reading” illustrations and writing.
Books without words are particularly powerful in South Africa and other countries where many caregivers are not skilled readers or lack confidence to read aloud. Even illiterate caregivers can “read” a wordless book, which supports attachment and bonding. They can also transcend language barriers, and ensure all children are included in multilingual contexts.
What our partners say about wordless books
“These wordless books spark imagination and interest and are also open to interpretation by children who in most cases are not yet able to read on their own.”
Debbie Cockrell, Slovo Centre of Excellence and Toy Library
“We prefer the wordless books, as it takes the ‘threat’ of books away in environments where generational illiteracy exists.”
Natasha Miller, Siyazana Youth Development Fund
“We have seen the huge benefit of wordless picture books, especially when working in communities where parents’ literacy levels may be low. These books also encourage a lot of creativity and imagination for both parents and kids.”
Whitney Richardson, Kids Collab
“I enjoy wordless books for their encouragement of the use of imagination and storytelling – children have to use their own words to tell the story (using the picture prompts), rather than relying on what is written. My personal favourite is Tikky Boom Tish as I love this simple way of introducing music to young children.”
Candice McGregor, Thanda
We want our books to reach as many children and families as possible.
That’s why we’ve put together this handy how-to guide for open content partners who want to use, re-share, adapt, translate and print Book Dash books. Below you can learn more about:
If you print your own books, re-share our original or adapted content, or run your own event, we want to know about it! Please tell us about it using the button below.
How you can use Book Dash books
We publish all of our books under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 license – our creative volunteers’ gift to the world. Under this license, there is no restriction on what people can do with the books, as long as they acknowledge Book Dash and the original creators. This means that anyone in the world can:
- Re-publish our books on their own platforms – including websites, apps, YouTube channels, etc.
- Create new versions of our books – such as audio versions, animations or songs
- Translate or adapt them into any language
- Print and sell thousands of copies.
Ebooks, print-ready files and editable design files for every book in our library are available on our website.
Book Dash crediting requirements and identity guidelines
Crediting requirements
If you are using Book Dash content, the only requirements we have are that you must:
- Acknowledge the four creatives who made the book (author, illustrator, designer and editor)
- Include a link to the Book Dash website (www.bookdash.org)
- Include a visible Book Dash logo
- If the original format was changed, state the nature of the adaptation (e.g. translated, new illustrations, audiobook).
Brand identity guidelines
You should also follow our brand identity guidelines when referring to Book Dash. Why? Communicating about our work in a consistent manner helps raise awareness, ensures a sense of familiarity and reliability, and showcases collaboration.
| Name | Book Dash (two words, both starting with capital letters) |
| Logo | Please use one of these logos: Book Dash logo (300px) Book Dash logo (1000px) Book Dash square Book Dash square (transparent background) Book Dash logo (black and white) Logo animation |
| Website | www.bookdash.org |
| Phrasing options | Please use language such as: Original books can be read for free at www.bookdash.org In partnership with Book Dash (www.bookdash.org) Published by Book Dash (www.bookdash.org) This is a www.bookdash.org story |
| Social media | If you would like to tag us on your social media posts, you can use the handle “@bookdash” and the links below: www.instagram.com/bookdash/ www.linkedin.com/company/book-dash/ x.com/bookdash www.facebook.com/bookdash www.youtube.com/@bookdashorg |
How to choose which books to use
To help you find the most relevant Book Dash books, you can:
- Visit the themes page to view all our themes, and click on them to see the books they include and the topics they cover.
- Filter by language and/or theme on the books page.
- You can also filter for wordless books – and you can learn more about the benefits of wordless books here.
Accessing and using source files
We share the source files for all of our Book Dash books, so anyone can download, use and adapt them. This includes PDF ebooks, print-ready PDFs, illustration image files, design files, text, translations and fonts.
To browse our titles, visit our books page, and use the “Download” button to access and save a book’s source files.
Alternatively, visit our book source files page to find open-licensed source files for all 200+ titles in our library. On this page you can download multiple titles at once (or even the whole library).
If you are planning on using any of the Book Dash books, remember to read our crediting and identity guidelines and to complete our onboarding form!
How to print your own books
You can print your own copies of the Book Dash books by downloading the print-ready source files and sending them to a local print or copy shop. Some organisations print the books exactly like they are, and others translate them into a local language before printing and distributing them.
You are welcome to use our printing specification document when asking your local print shop for a quotation. They should be able to do a beautiful job of the books, just as if you bought them in a store.
We always recommend requesting a sample copy before commissioning a big volume of books.
If you are interested in printing your own copies of the Book Dash books – in an original, translated or adapted form – please get in touch or complete our onboarding form. We’d love to know how the printed books are adding value to your work.
How to run your own book-making event
The Book Dash model is open-licensed, too!
While we do not run our book-making events for other organisations, companies or schools, our book-making model is open and carefully documented from start to finish in our Book Dash Manual. Our book design templates are also available. That means anyone can use our manual to organise their own book-making event.
If you are interested in hosting your own book-making event, please get in touch or complete our onboarding form – we’d love to know where the Book Dash model is implemented, and to help if we can. Organisations in places including Angola, Nigeria, Laos, Namibia and Luxembourg have used the Book Dash model, and a few South African schools have too.
If you have budget to buy or fund books in large quantities (10,000+), and are based in South Africa, please review the standard print cost estimates below before emailing us at team@bookdash.org with your formal quote request.
You should use the figures below as an indication of cost for your required quantity. Book Dash will request an official quote from the printer before confirming your order.
The estimates below:
- Include the cost of Book Dash managing the whole print project on your behalf, including managing delivery.
- Exclude the cost of delivery – we recommend budgeting another R1 per book for this.
Have a look at the two scenarios below as practical examples:
- 10,000 books of 1 title (book): 10,000 x R15.00 per copy = R150,000 (ex-VAT)
- 50,000 books of 5 different titles (books): 50,000 x R14.00 per copy = R700,000 (ex-VAT)
The minimum print order is 10,000 books. If you need a smaller quantity you can:
- Buy books from stock
- Take advantage of our annual stock sales by subscribing to our newsletter or by following us on social media
- Email us at team@bookdash.org to discuss joining another planned print run to bring costs down
- Print your chosen quantity of any of the Book Dash books by following our open content partner guidelines.
Book Dash was nominated for the prestigious ALMA Award 2024.
This global award is given annually to a person or organisation for their outstanding contribution to children’s and young adult literature. It was established in 2002 by the Swedish government to promote every child’s right to great stories. With a prize of five million Swedish kronor, it is the largest award of its kind. Administrated by the Swedish Arts Council.
A total of 245 candidates from 68 countries have been nominated for the 2024 award, including 66 candidates new from previous years. The list include authors and illustrators, as well as storytellers and reading promoters with nominations submitted by organisations from all over the world.
The nomination underscores the impact of our work on the broader community and industry. It indicates that our efforts have not gone unnoticed and have resonated with audiences, peers, or stakeholders. The fact that our work has garnered attention speaks volumes about its influence and relevance. Even in instances where the award is not ultimately conferred, the nomination serves as a testament to the positive imprint our work has left on the field.
From time to time Book Dash organises a Collaborative Print Run, which is a pooled procurement project offering quality authentic children’s storybooks in different South African languages. As everyone’s small orders add up to a large enough volume of books, you help us achieve economies of scale, and very low prices for all.
We do this because giving books to young children to love and own has been shown to make a huge difference to the development of their literacy skills, their socio-emotional skills, their level of school-readiness, and their future in general. We always strive to make giving books as affordable as possible for you and your organisation.
We are offering a variety of Book Dash books (15cm x 15cm) at R15 per book to be delivered in the last quarter of 2023. These books will arrive in time to make excellent inclusions in holiday packs or be given to children as graduation gifts. Alternatively, you can also keep the books for an early start with your 2024 programmes.
Click on the button below for more information on how to order.
This Mandela Day, help Book Dash on our mission to get books into every young child’s hands, homes and hearts.
When you donate R670 to Book Dash, we will:
- send 8 books to children in hospitals through our trusted partners in healthcare
- As a thank you, we’ll also send you a limited edition ‘My Little Book Dash Library’ featuring 8 Book Dash books to give to a child in your life!
Delivery & Timing:
- Please ensure to give us your correct address in full — we will send the ‘My Little Library’ to the address provided.
- Only local/South African deliveries can be accommodated. For time and cost reasons we can deliver within 50kms of a main city centre. Outlying areas may require additional payments, we’ll be in touch if this is the case.
- The campaign runs 17th – 23rd July.
- Deliveries will be processed after the 24th and thank you gifts should arrive in main city centres by end July or early August.
About Book Dash
Book Dash is a South African not-for-profit literacy and publishing project to get more books into children’s homes.
We gather volunteers creatives to create and publish beautiful African picturebooks. Then, we partner with donors and literacy organizations to get them to children to own to support their early literacy development. To date, we’ve created 188 new African picturebooks and distributed over 3 million copies to children to own. The books are shared widely all over the world, adapted and re-printed to reach children globally.
You can read the full Book Dash story collection for free at www.bookdash.org/books. Share it with children in your life!
If you want to donate a different amount you can do so at www.bookdash.org/donate (only donations of R670 donated for this Mandela Day campaign qualify for the thank you gift).
As you’ve probably heard us shouting from the rooftops, Book Dash believes “every child should own a hundred books by the age of five”. It’s a grand vision that we’ll reach through collaboration and systemic change in how we make and distribute books to young children. We’re grateful to you for the role you’ve played in helping us get there.
By the end of February, we will have succeeded in getting 3 million copies of Book Dash books to more than 170+ partner organisations who use them to support their literacy programmes in the ECD and healthcare sectors. Importantly, they give these books to children and families to own to enhance the home literacy environment and give families access to the storybooks necessary for improved family literacy practices. This “3 million milestone” comes shortly after we celebrated our first million books to children, in December 2020. We’re proud to be scaling wider and forming new key partnerships to support that growth.
In addition to the distribution of physical books that we manage, there are 100+ local and global Book Dash content partners re-using and re-sharing our books with children, practitioners and caregivers. They use them in their curriculums, translate them into local languages and distribute them in print and digital formats. Enabled by the Creative Commons licence and the quality of our books, the reach of the books is exponential.
The contribution to literacy of this South African-born publishing innovation is staggering. In the next two months, we have some incredible opportunities to show what we do with the world:
- We’ve been selected as a finalist in the CSI Legacy Awards
Book Dash’s work was selected as a finalist in the category for “Best Rising NGO” in the CSI Legacy Awards, hosted by CSR News. The winner will be announced on 2 March in Pretoria. Book Dash’s creativity, bold vision and growth in reach was noted in the shortlisting process. Our newest Board members, Jabulile Nosi (FNB) and Boitumelo Khunou (ClassAct) will represent Book Dash at the event, and if you’ll be there please go say hello to them! Tickets are available here if you’re interested in attending the awards ceremony.
2. We’ve been invited by the 2023 Bologna Children’s Book Fair to show off our world-first publishing model
Did you know that all Book Dash books are created by volunteer creative professionals and in just 12-hours? This is the magic that is Book Dash and is the founding innovation that allows us to donate beautiful, relevant books in abundance to children to own.
On the 6th and 7th March, we’ll be showing this unique approach to the world at the 60th edition of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair in Italy. Two teams of African writers, illustrators and designers will work to create brand new picturebooks at the world’s pre-eminent children’s book fair. We’re planning to leave them in awe!
We also have a spot on the official programme to share the books with the audience and discuss the unique creative process. Julia will also appear on the panel discussion of the Global Network for Early Year’s Bookgifting; she’s a member of the Working Group.
3. We’re presenting at the World Literacy Summit in April and we’re shortlisted for a World Literacy Award
Book Dash’s model for creating high-quality, relevant children’s books very quickly and cost-effectively is a world first and has implications for the global literacy sector, but that’s not where our contribution ends. All the books made by our creative superheroes are licensed under a Creative Commons licence and they’re used by over 100 organisations worldwide to support literacy development and increase impact. This is what we’ll be sharing with the delegates at the 2023 World Literacy Summit in Oxford. Not only that, but we’ve also heard that Book Dash has been shortlisted for the award for Contribution to Literacy by an Organisation
Of course, while we’re busy telling the world about what we do, we’ll also continue to onboard new partners, and get beautiful, relevant books to children and families to own.
Work with us! Buy and/or donate to support Book Dash’s work
If your organisation could use books to bolster your work, we’re currently having a sale of our books (information and order form here).
If you or your organisation would like to support Book Dash’s ongoing work and increasing impact through funds or a strategic partnership, you can let us know by writing to team@bookdash.org to kickstart the conversation, or simply donating here. We’re fully registered, S18a-compliant and a Level 1 B-BBEEE organisation. Any financial contributions are greatly appreciated and directly enable us to get more children owning books.
A few key players at Book Dash reflect on what they’ve learnt over the last 12 months of the coronavirus pandemic and the impact in the worlds of publishing, representation and social impact.
The significance of diversity and representation in what we read
2020 has taught me that in the midst of so much chaos, confusion and hurt in the world, it is important more than ever to instil love and inspire acceptance into the hearts of everyone we can. A perfect place to start is with our children.
As a child growing up in South Africa, very little if at all, that I read and saw in the media represented my reality. There was no white Christmas nor was there a subway like the one in Manhattan or yellow cabs to get me from point A to point B.
What became clear though as I grew older, was that the media I consumed used examples drawn from totally different set of life experiences. No one “out there” looked or sounded anything like me. The subtle message I received was that my own life experiences didn’t matter.
Today as a parent and writer, I have a responsibility to children to make sure that no other child feels like they do not belong or matter. Thanks to Book Dash that we can strive to create a world in which all children can see themselves represented in the pages of a book while also making these books accessible to them in their home languages.
Mathapelo Mabaso is a brand strategist and volunteer writer for Book Dash
The necessity of physical reading material in the home
There is consensus that in 2020, most children worldwide spent too much time in front of screens as families under lockdown tried to keep children occupied and stimulated, while parents worked from home. Although online resources were a godsend, the pandemic also highlighted the importance of having printed books in the home.
Firstly, there is the scientific argument: the research is clear on the advantage of printed books over screen time for preschool children. A child’s brain develops the most rapidly in the first 5 years of their life, and reading printed books helps to increase and organise the brain’s white matter, setting the brain up for optimal learning going forward. “When it came to screen time, kids who used screens more than one hour a day had poorer emerging literacy skills, less ability to use expressive language, and tested lower on the ability to rapidly name objects. In contrast, children who frequently read books with their caregiver scored higher on cognitive tests.” This is the conclusion of clinicians at the Cincinnati Children’s Reading and Literacy Discovery Center.
Secondly, there is the reality of many South African that are excluded from using online resources because of issues around digital access, the high cost of data and the low penetration of smart devices. Printed books play a crucial role in supporting preschool children’s development and preparing them for school, and never more so than during lockdown when many of Book Dash’s ECD distribution partners managed to keep sending our books home to the children in their care. The consistent feedback from families is that these books have been a refuge for children and adults alike, creating a spark for a shared, fun activity that strengthens emotional bonds and increases feelings of security.
Dorette Louw is a Director at Book Dash
The poignancy of generosity and an “open” approach to resources
If there were ever a time to consider generosity as a doctrine, it was 2020. As Arundhati Roy said in an interview in April, “This virus has worked like an MRI or like an X-Ray on societies & countries and exposed their barebones … amplifying all the weaknesses, all the injustices…” Individuals, organisations and countries were forced to recognise rampant inequality and make a choice: Some doubled-down and stockpiled resources for themselves, while many chose to share what they had in the hopes of creating a more equal experience for all, enacting the adage “When you have more than you need, build a longer table, not a higher fence.”
A large number of institutions, especially those in education chose to reduce barriers to their content this year — embracing a spirit of sharing that for-profit businesses don’t often consider in their models. Snapplify opened their library of local educational materials for free access and Tanzanian-based children’s edutainment powerhouse Ubongo chose to reclassify all their content from copyright-protected to Creative Commons licensing. They joined a league of organisations worldwide who create and share and advocate for high quality “open educational resources” (OER).
At Book Dash, this doctrine of “open” has defined our approach from the start: We always knew that an open license would enable exponential impact for our beautiful African picturebooks to travel unbounded, even when we can’t. This means the books are free to read, download, adapt and print. We were inspired early on by organisations leading the way and we were lucky enough to present alongside some at celebrations of “open” like the Open Publishing Fest, hosted by leaders in the industry at the Coko Foundation. I’d love to see this spirit of generosity continue past the current time of the pandemic-induced crisis, truly believing we’re all richer when resources are shared.
Julia Norrish is the Executive Director at Book Dash
Online reading practices and the importance of digital accessibility
At the beginning of what promises to be another challenging year, what is clearer now than ever before is the importance that agility, grit, and a collective response plays in overcoming the new and existing challenges faced in learning and literacy, globally.
Accessibility to digital tools and content was imperative to continued learning this year, and it’s encouraging to see how these have been embraced. Book Dash’s website visits alone increased by 500% compared to 2019. Hundreds of thousands of young readers are now interacting with digital reading and learning tools, daily. Many of them are using these tools for the first time, and in situations where they have far less support than they would have had ordinarily. Through this, we’ve learned that access to digital content and tools is not enough. We’ve also seen how important engaged and empowered teachers, parents and other care-givers are to building reading communities – whether these are facilitated with hardcopy or digital books.
Coming together, listening to each other, and adapting to change quickly and effectively is crucial to establishing successful online reading practices, regardless of whether you are building the tools, implementing them, or using them day-to-day.
Tarryn-Anne Anderson is a founding member of Book Dash and the Growth Director at Snapplify.
The importance of agility and adaptability in social impact businesses
While the social sector is accustomed to, even built for, turbulence, 2020 was a shock. Funding streams that seemed secure were suddenly diverted – rightly so – to COVID19 relief efforts and usual channels to communities were severely disrupted.
Social enterprises were met with mixed messages – some funders wanted an immediate pivot to dealing with COVID issues, while others praised organisations that promised to stay true to mission while drastically cutting back on staff and projects. It was a difficult environment in which to keep your head, as the obvious and drastic needs of communities, the frantic reprioritisation by funders, the restrictions on movement and commerce, and the general psychological stress merged in a pressure cooker.
Despite this, many organisations managed to react with grace, courage and imagination. They made tough decisions, drew on reserves (financial and emotional), initiated collaborative conversations with funders, sought out new partners, redesigned programme delivery, and reimagined the value they could bring to the people they serve.
Many organisations – early childhood development centres are an example – simply couldn’t respond in this way. And movements have built up around them to try to claw back what has been lost this year. If there is any silver lining, it’s the widespread realisation that services like these and the impact they have on children’s lives cannot be underestimated.
Social impact businesses have learned valuable lessons this year: that agility and adaptability are necessities, that resilience and mutual support are critical, and that they are stronger and more essential than they ever knew.
Michelle Matthews is a founding member of Book Dash and Director of Product at Viridian
A virtual party
On December 3rd, the Book Dash community celebrated a momentous milestone for our organisation: on 20 November the 1 millionth copy of a Book Dash book was given to a child, and we threw a virtual party to mark it.
More than 100 guests from all over the world joined the event, which was live-streamed from the Book Dash offices in Cape Town. The team had asked some supporters like donors, creatives, partners and superfans to send in video messages before the event, and it was lovely to watch those together.
The Founders of Book Dash, streaming in live from their homes, told the story of the conception, birth and growth of Book Dash, and we watched a video condensing our 6-year journey into a 5-minute good-news story. You can watch the video here.
Looking back
The first book ever published by Book Dash in 2014 is a funny story called Sleepy Mr Sloth. Our Book Dash book-creation events always end with storytime, where teams share the new books they created. Last night we kept the tradition alive, and ended our celebration with Aidan, the 8-year old son of Arthur and Michelle (two of the Book Dash founders) reading Sleepy Mr Sloth.
The 1 millionth Book Dash book
Staying with 8-year old boys: another 8-year old boy was the recipient of the 1 millionth Book Dash book. Iyanda lives in KZN, and he received two Book Dash books in his Santa Shoebox, one with a sparkly golden sticker on it! This year, MySchoolMyVillageMyPlanet funded the printing of 100,000 Book Dash books to be included in 2020’s Santa Shoeboxes.
This is a picture of Iyanda, with the 1 millionth book – which happened to be packed in the 1 millionth Santa Shoebox given to children. What are the chances of two partner organisations (Book Dash and Santa Shoebox) both reaching their 1 million milestones at the same time?
Looking forward
Our vision is for each child to own one hundred books by the age of five. There are about 6 million children aged 5 and under in South Africa, which means that for us to achieve our vision, we have to distribute many more millions of books, and keep on doing this forever and ever.
We are up for the challenge, especially with supporters like you. But last night we paused to raise a glass to everyone who helped us achieve the first one million books. Thank you for all your support, and please do stick around for all the new chapters in our story.
Book Dash is honoured to announce that our website and catalogue of books has been vetted as one of the inaugural Digital Public Goods in the Foundational Literacy and Early Grade Reading category.
A Digital Public Good is an openly-licensed technology, data model, or content that is of high relevance for attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Digital Public Good Alliance, that was set up to identify such open digital goods in line with a recommendation from the UN Secretary General’s Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.
We’re glad that this recognition will allow more people to know about, access and enjoy our collection of 140+ beautiful, African stories that are free for all.
For more information about this recognition, read the Medium article announcement from the Digital Public Goods Alliance: https://medium.com/digital-public-goods/announcing-the-first-vetted-digital-public-goods-for-foundational-literacy-and-early-grade-reading-1f5c371a50d3
Since our inception in 2014, Book Dash has published 140 original African storybooks for children, and translated them into a library of close to 500 titles. How much did we pay over the years in writer’s fees, illustration fees, design fees and editing fees? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. This astonishing fact is due to the generosity of the creative volunteers whose passion and skills are the powerful force that enables Book Dash to publish free books, and in doing so break down the barriers to literacy.
Our vision is that every child should own a hundred books by the age of five, so in addition to making the books freely available online, the printing and distribution of physical copies is crucial to our work. Because we don’t have to pay the creative volunteers for their work, we are able to publish our books at roughly 20% of traditional publishing costs. These savings mean that we can print and distribute an abundance of books, so that all children, regardless of their socio-economic position, can benefit from owning books. This year alone, we’ve been able to distribute 340,000 books to children, despite restrictions due to COVID-19.
So what motivates our superstar volunteers to give up 12 hours on a Saturday (some repeat offenders have given up three, four… six Saturdays over the years) to work very hard and make a free book in a team with other creatives? This is what a few of them have to say:
Ndumiso Nyoni (illustrator, three Book Dash events)
“I volunteer for Book Dash because I grew up on books, comics and cartoons but could never fully connect with the characters I loved, because they didn’t look or sound like me… Not only does Book Dash give me the opportunity to create books that will resonate with young African children, they also create and distribute the books for free to help improve child literacy throughout our continent. Knowing that there is an African child out there who is both learning to read and appreciate themselves for who they are, is the biggest achievement of my career and I am humbled and honoured to be a part of it.”
Sam Wilson (writer, seven Book Dash events)
“Literacy is a huge issue in South Africa. Book Dash creates books that are free online, and can be printed and sold by anyone. It’s an amazing way to give every child in South Africa their own books. And I get to do something I love for a great cause.”
Have a look at this short video to hear what motivates two Book Dash writers, Mathapelo Mabaso (two Book Dash events) and Sindiwe Magona (two Book Dash events), to get involved.
So, salute our creative volunteers for their generosity by reading their Book Dash books with the children in your life (free on our website), and tell others about the books too. You can also follow your favourite Book Dash volunteers on their social media pages to see more of the amazing creative work that they do in their day jobs.
To get notified of when the next Book Dash event and call for applications is, join our mailing list here:
While the country is in lockdown and places of learning are closed, many organisations are doing what they can to support young children and families. This often involves distributing resource packs to keep children stimulated at home until they can return to schools and ECD centres. Books are ideal for this as they provide impulses for engaging interactions and support holistic development of young children.
Book Dash wants to support these efforts as much as possible, through donations to partners but also by offering our books at R10 a copy (50% discount) to any organisation that will be distributing books to children and families during the lockdown period.
If you’re interested, email team@bookdash.org to request a stocklist. Please also have a look at the terms and conditions below.
If you’d like to support, but aren’t involved in resource distribution, you can still donate and assist us in getting books out to our network of approved partners who are supporting families in this way. Or, you could purchase books on behalf of an organisation that you know and we’ll deliver to them.
Terms and conditions:
- This offer will run until the end of May or while stocks last.
- Sales will be managed on a first come, first served basis.
- Minimum order is 100 books and orders are limited to 1,000 books per customer. If you’re interested in larger orders, let us know.
- Books should reach children and families as soon as possible, and be given away at no cost to the recipient.
- Delivery is not included and will be quoted for depending on quantity and delivery destination.
- Deliveries happen once a week, and order and payment needs to be finalised by Friday, for dispatch on the following Monday.
- Valid within South Africa only.
In line with our vision that every child should own a hundred books by the age of five, we spend a lot of time thinking about how we can reach more children with more books.
One of the challenges in making books affordable, is to print large enough volumes of one title to get the benefit of the economies of scale. We have experimented successfully with a mechanism that we call a “collaborative print run”.
Funding from donors is used as the base from which to leverage the print run. Together with the funder, we select appropriate titles from our library. An important step here is to maintain a good balance between variety of titles, and volumes per title. This should be informed by the funding available, and the tipping point of volume versus price. For Book Dash, we aim to never pay more than R10.00 per book.
The next step is to make the circle bigger: we invite partners and the public to send us pre-orders for the quantities of the selected titles that they would like. Sometimes these orders are as small as a few hundred copies, sometimes thousands. We put together the small orders, and voilà: we have large enough volumes to offer all parties an exceptionally low unit cost. Everyone wins.
If you are interested in sponsoring a print run of our books, speak to us and if you’d like to be informed when the next collaborative print runs happen, follow us on Twitter, Facebook or join the mailing list.
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We’re fully registered with MySchool, meaning it’s quick and easy to add us to your profile.
The following free digital platforms include Book Dash titles in their extensive libraries:
Print copies of Book Dash titles can be purchased from the following South African booksellers:
Book Lounge
Bridge Books
Clockwork Books
Armstrong’s Books
Ethnikids
Zuzu Collective
If you are looking for a title that is not available with these booksellers, or if you would like to stock Book Dash titles in your store, please write to team@bookdash.org.
Donating is the fastest, simplest way to help. Donors have already helped us create and give away thousands of beautiful books to children. You can use a card, SnapScan or an Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) to make a donation. Book Dash is registered Public Benefit Organisation and can provide you with a tax deductible donation certificate (details below) should you request it.
Pay with a card
Click a donation button below, and your card payment will be processed by PayFast (it’s completely secure and very easy).
Pay with PayPal
Donate to Book Dash directly through PayPal on the button below.
Pay with SnapScan
Use SnapScan? Just scan the code (click it if you need it enlarged).
Pay by EFT
You can deposit straight into our bank account. Unless you really need to be anonymous, please use your name in your payment reference, and let us know you’ve made a deposit.
Name: Book Dash
Bank: First National Bank
Account number: 62492593118
Branch: Claremont (215 Main Road, Claremont, Cape Town 7708)
Branch code: 200109
Account type: Business cheque/current account
SWIFT code for international payments: FIRNZAJJ
Please send payment confirmations to team@bookdash.org.
(International donors: South Africa does not use the IBAN system. Payments can be made instead with the account number, branch code, and SWIFT code. We’ll soon add credit card donations via PayPal, we’re waiting for them to process our non-profit status.)
Tax-deductible donations
Book Dash is a Public Benefit Organisation with Section 18A status. This means we can give you a certificate that makes your donation tax-deductible in South Africa. When you donate, please let us know if you need a certificate.
To qualify for a certificate, donations for section 18A purposes must be bona fide donations. According to the regulations: “A bona fide donation is a voluntary, gratuitous gift disposed of by the donor out of liberality or generosity, where the donee is enriched and the donor impoverished. There may be no quid pro quo, no reciprocal obligations and no personal benefit for the donor. If the donee gives any consideration at all it is not a donation. The donor may not impose conditions which could enable him or any connected person in relation to himself to derive some direct or indirect benefit from the application of the donation.”
Book Dash days are twelve-hour book-making marathons for creative professionals. Everyone is a volunteer, joining in to make beautiful children’s books that anyone can freely download, print and distribute. To hear about new Book Dash days, join our mailing list.
Book Days days are the creative heart of our volunteer movement: dozens of top creatives giving their time to create books that anyone can freely translate, print and distribute. And at Book Dash translation days, volunteers translators multiply those books into other languages.
It costs R100 000 to put on a Book Dash day. That includes planning and preparation and all the infrastructure required: venue, food, equipment, stationery and more.