It was with pride, when the UNICEF project in Papua entitled “Reviving the Reading Culture: promoting activities to improve literacy levels in Tanah Papua” invited YLAI to develop 7 leveled reading books with themes according to K13. YLAI immediately contacted the authors: Mrs. Nyoman Sri Utami, Mrs. Ayu Sugati, Mrs. Kusumadewi Yuliani, Mrs. Erni Hastuti, Mrs. Setyawati Lusia, and Mrs. Hindira Laxmi and received an enthusiastic response!
However, YLAI only had one month to develop the story along with the authors. With such a tight deadline and the conditions in which all writers are teachers who teach on weekdays, then YLAI had to ask these great writers to attend mentoring sessions at the weekends. They also gave up their nights to do some revisions.
It is a challenge to pack the topics in K13 that are quite complicated into simple and interesting stories for students. YLAI also had difficulty adjusting to the local context of Papua, which is less familiar to writers in Bali. Various explorations and research should be done by the authors for the sake of delivering the appropriate text for the target readers.
The story ideas gradually transformed into a draft, then became a more detailed manuscript after revision by revision. The script was also studied together with the YLAI teacher coaching team to ensure the words used were easily understood by the readers at their level. The result, when the approval from UNICEF YLAI was received, it felt really a great relief!
The following step was illustration, again YLAI had little time to develop illustrations. Some names were selected directly because of their unquestionable quality of work and their ability to complete illustrations quickly. Mr. Margiyono, Mr. Margono, and Mr. Doni Duarsa are illustrators who have illustrated YLAI’s leveled books. With watercolor and colored pencil techniques, they became YLAI’s first choice. Fanny Santoso also joined the illustrator team. Fanny is an illustrator of YLAI picture storybook that will add color to these UNICEF leveled reading collections. And lastly, Mr. Nyoman Gatep Antara completed the YLAI team with his outstanding talent of painting.
After the illustrators received the final manuscript, they did character studies. This was the most exciting moment, in which the characters in the stories were visualized into ‘living’ being. YLAI also witnessed Dina, Rina, Sani, Yohana, Debi, Neti, Ana & Jonas transformed into cute and interactive children.
However, of course this process was not over. There is still a long way to develop an illustration. Stay tuned in part 2, right away!