ABOUT IU Books & Beyond

The IU Books & Beyond Project, now finishing its 13th year, is an award-winning intercultural storytelling and literacy exchange created by students for students in the United States and Rwanda. Books & Beyond—a distinguished university student organization at Indiana University Bloomington—has partnered with several middle and primary schools in Rwanda and US. The mission of the project is to develop globally minded students, develop models for intercultural teaching and learning, and help young authors and readers create and acquire books for their personal use. The student leaders of the project believe that every partnership should be reciprocal so that no one is solely giving or taking, but that all partners have an investment in the project and that all partners’ needs are met. They view experiential learning as an effective means of student-led, project-based inquiry and collaboration. They believe that students must acquire the knowledge, dispositions, skills, tools, and resources necessary to be productive leaders. And finally, they recognize that each partner brings to the collaboration prior knowledge, life experiences, and a wealth of skills that serve to enhance the project. Recognizing that collaboration is the key to success, university students mentored younger learners in authoring, illustrating, publishing, and marketing an annual collection of short stories entitled The World is Our Home. These stories are archived on this site. Students developed specialized knowledge and an impressive set of professional and life skills.