Background

Story Background / Meet The Author: I challenged my 4^th graders at Richlands Elementary School to change the world. I didn’t know where the project would go but I knew that if any class could pull it off, it was that group. It didn’t take long for the classroom to come alive with information about kids all over the world who had worked incredible things to better the lives of others. We learned about Yash Gupta, Alex Scott, Anne Frank, Nkosi Johnson, Iqbal Masih, and Malala Yousafzai. We reached out across time and distance to walk with them for a season and the class caught on to the understanding that “kids can change the world”.

I am proud of what my students came up with, from gathering donations for homeless shelters, raising money for medical research, to providing insight and supporting solutions on how to feed children in our own community that were going without meals. The day the story, The Pencil Project, was truly born, was when Colleen Newbold shared her idea with the class (collect pencils and school supplies to deliver to Develop Africa). It was in that moment that I realized that the pencils she was collecting could assist great young minds/hearts in Africa that were lacking the proper tools to grow and express the wonder that lived within. I remembered telling the class that “some child in Africa could have the cure for cancer locked inside of them waiting to be released, and these pencils that Colleen is collecting could be the key that brings that gift to the world”.

A little dramatic, sure, but also something that could be true. The kids needed to know just how powerful their actions were, not just for themselves, not just for those directly affected by their projects, but on a bigger and longer lasting scale, they needed to know that kindness brings light into this world in many forms. I needed to teach them that there’s no telling how far one caring act or one encouraging word can go.

The idea of acts of kindness moving across the world stayed with me and I began to write. Although The Pencil Project is a fictional story, it is born out of the very real heart of a class willing to change the world.

3 Steps to Change the World (from The Pencil Project)

Find a problem
Work toward fixing the problem
Whammo, world changed!

James Ryan Orr, Author, The Pencil Project

Afterword by Sylvester Renner, President, Develop Africa

Meet Collen Newbold: Colleen's quest to help change the world through collecting pencils triggered the writing of the Pencil Project Book. She explains in the above video how a story that Ivy, (her mother) told her, planted the seed in her - to help provide pencils for kids in Africa. The video also includes clips of Louis (Grandfather) and Ivy (Mother) during a visit to Develop Africa's office in Tennessee, November 2017.

Colleen explains to us that she felt bad when she heard of kids in Africa that did not have pencils. Pencils help kids to understand better and remember when they take notes. Colleen felt responsible and wanted to do her part to help ensure kids in Africa got pencils. She hopes that what she has done (and continues to do) ... and this book will inspire other kids to collect pencils and school supplies for kids in Africa.

Why Pencils?