In Micronesia, oral stories have always been a focal point of traditional culture, though books themselves have not. Many of the students on the island of Weno, Chuuk State, have a deep love of stories, but have had little experience reading and few books to read. Although some language books are produced locally, novels are not something that are typically written or printed on island which has limited the quality and number of books available to budding readers.

Published 9 years ago, updated 5 years ago

Kalika Kastein represents two high schools on the island of Weno, Chuuk High School and Saramen Chuuk Academy, in their search for age-appropriate, English-language novels.

Chuuk High School, with its large enrollment of over 900 students, has adopted a creative approach to the lack of a library room at their school. Teachers manage a small library in their classroom of relevant, age and level appropriate books. This “decentralized” library approach has led to more books being read since students are able to read during free time in class, after they have finished their coursework. It has also enabled students to take responsibility in their classrooms for the books and to treat the books well as they see them as “theirs.”

A set of popular books circulates between classrooms in a banker’s box as a mobile library to supplement the books in classrooms. Chuuk High has close to 300 novels in this decentralized library program for free-reading, which means that not all classes are able to have a library and there are simply not enough books to go around.

Saramen Chuuk Academy, with an enrollment of 170 students, has an established library room and approximately 200 or so older books and novels. A large number of the books are old, damaged and are not particularly interesting or relevant to young students. There are teachers that manage the library before and after school hours as a reading and study room.

At both schools, the biggest area of need is for novels that intrigue young readers to begin to read for fun on their own. Any types of novels that you have between a 3rd and 10th-grade reading level would be appreciated (that is ages 8-15). Magazines are also quite popular and would be used if donated, as would simple text non-fiction books. Both schools can use 3rd-grade books, such as chapter books with pictures, for many of their first-time English learners.

If you are planning on cruising to Micronesia and are able to assist with book donation and delivery, contact Kalika for more information:

Kalika Kastein

WorldTeach Field Director

Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia

P.O. Box 42

Weno, Chuuk 96942

+691 330-2555 school office

E-mail: [email protected]

The students of Chuuk would love to respond by offering photos of the books in use, a thank you letter and any other follow-up data that you may be interested in.

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