About Books Unbound
A woman-owned small business
We're a diverse team of content creators around the world, many of whom are refugees themselves. We work with photographers, artists, translators, and educators who are dedicated to providing displaced communities with accessible, contextualized learning opportunities.
Your purchase supports us and allows us to hire individuals who struggle to find work in their own countries.
Thailand, 2015
Problem: lack of contextualized materials.
As an educator for marginalized communities in Southeast Asia, I [Sophie Danielson] was confronted with this problem on a daily basis. The need for culturally sensitive learning materials became increasingly inevitable after I found a small group of Rohingya refugees in southern Thailand.
With little to no materials that provided a cultural context and representation for these people, it was difficult to keep them engaged in my classes.
I wanted to find a more culturally sensitive approach to teaching.
We started drawing cartoons.
We drew cartoons that represented their culture, daily activities, and traditions. For the first time ever, our Rohingya friends were seeing themselves in cartoon form.
The engagement in the classroom was completely transformed and my deep relationship with the Rohingya formed.
Books Unbound - at least the idea of it - was born.
USA, 2016
Through a series of fortunate events, my Rohingya friends were resettled throughout the United States. I spent most of my weekends on airplanes reuniting with them - documenting an ongoing storytelling series, called Rohingya Reunions.
At the time, they still had family members in Rakhine State, Myanmar.
Bangladesh, 2018
The violence in Myanmar forced over 600,000 Rohingya refugees to flee to Bangladesh in August 2017. My Rohingya friends' family members were forced to flee as well.
I reunited with their family members in 2018 in Bangladesh (which inspired our children's book).
Confronted by the reality of life in a refugee camp, Books Unbound started to take shape.
The Problem
Education in a refugee camp is fragile and inconsistent, changing often because of:
Political instability of a host country
Fluidity of program funds based on trending current events
Natural and human-caused disasters such as fire, flooding, and even global pandemics
The Solution?
A more resilient, community-driven informal education delivery network that is less susceptible to these disruptions.
That's where we come in.
Our Approach - Contextualized Learning
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Cartoon-Based
Our materials are cartoon-based and culturally sensitive to reach both literate and illiterate learners in a relatable way.
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Relevant Needs
We work with local educators to address immediate learning needs, such as: basic vocabulary, health needs, female-sensitive topics, etc.
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Language Preservation
We work with local and international linguists to promote mother tongue literacy and preserve minority languages.
Our Outreach
We donate our books to refugee camps & local organizations based on the need. Learn more about our outreach on our main website: