From the Mouths (and Colored Pencils) of Children

It’s no secret that Bloom is right up there at the top of the heap when it comes to accessible book-making software. Bloom is an award-winning program with cutting-edge capabilities, and it is regularly being updated to increase its already impressive reach.

But far more important than any awards or technological bells and whistles is the fact that Bloom is being used by real people all around the world to create exciting new literacy materials in their own languages—often for the very first time in history!

It’s not just “people,” though … it’s also kids!

That’s right, children out there are beginning to use Bloom to create their own books, in their own language. Today we want to highlight the work of some very talented children who speak the Tz’utujil language of Guatemala. These children illustrated the story AMUL NUBAN PERWA’ BAJLAM themselves, and if you click this link and then click “read,” you can see their lovely artwork and hear a child reading the story beautifully in her own language. The title of the story translates as “The Rabbit Tricks the Tiger.”

And here’s another link, to a story called JUN SAK’ CHQA’ JUN WNEN, written (and recorded) in the same language. This one is about “The Grasshopper and the Sheep.”

Aren’t these children amazing? 

Professional art educators often make the point that children have an intuitive understanding of design and color composition -- which means that their art, while often quite basic, is attractive and effective for illustrating their stories.

We love the capabilities of Bloom. But even more than that, we love the way this software has continued to give people of all ages all around the world a tool to unlock their creative potential, to tell their stories in the language that makes the most sense to them.

This is aid turned inside-out. Because we have started with the belief that all people are capable of developing their own amazing potential, we are free to be amazed at what they can do… no matter what their age.

* Click HERE and push “READ” to explore the entire story on the Bloom website.