The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) and the Breakfast Serials publishing company are offering newspapers the opportunity to commemorate International Literacy Day on September 8 by publishing a free serialised story to encourage reading in the home.
The 17-part story of the Chinese fable, "The Monkey King," is being made available to newspapers in 800-word segments with illustrations and an activities guide. WAN is encouraging newspapers to launch the series on September 8 to coincide with International Literacy Day, a United Nations initiative to promote universal literacy.
The story and activity guide are being offered in English or Spanish, but newspapers are authorised to do translations into other languages.
Serialised stories are a venerable art form — many popular writers in the 19th century earned a living by publishing stories a little at a time, in newspapers and magazines, to keep readers coming back for more. Many of Charles Dickens' novels were originally published in this manner. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle created the Sherlock Holmes stories for serialisation.
"The serial story is making a comeback because it is a powerful tool to encourage a love of reading. It is also a lot of fun, and by offering a teaching guide we make it easy for parents and teachers to use the series to build reading skills," said Aralynn McMane, Director of Young Readership Development for the Paris-based WAN. "We believe that offering this story at no cost is a perfect way to encourage newspapers to commemorate International Literacy Day."
"Newspapers worldwide have been historically solid local literacy partners, doing all kinds of activities that promote basic literacy (with programmes for adults as well as children), critical thinking and media literacy," she said. "This is a logical next step."
The story was donated by Breakfast Serials Inc, a US-based publishing company that provides original serials as a way to bring people together and build community. Use the News Foundation donated the accompanying activities guide. Both the story and the activities guide are available to any newspaper outside the United States.
In addition, those who sign up, will have access to a sidebar story and photos about real monkeys, both donated by the Paris-based Sardine Features.
The Monkey King, written by Ji-li Jiang and illustrated by Hui Hui Su-Kennedy, follows the Monkey's search for immortality, which leads him to alternately charm and annoy the Great Jade Emperor. The story comes from a universal folk tradition: the character, while trying to live by high ideals, constantly slips and falls when fun proves irresistible.
Founded in 1948, the World Association of Newspapers is the global organisation for the world's press, representing 18,000 newspapers world-wide. Part of its work is to encourage literacy projects through its Newspapers in Education Development Project, which is supported by Norske Skog, the Norway-based paper manufacturer.
