Scala’s Shelf
Formerly Textweaver and Lao Media Maker
Levelled children's books and comics, made by local creators with AI assistance, that download once and read offline on low-cost phones. Free for every child, always.
Scala’s Shelf is a strategic partnership with Laos. We're piloting it there first, with children learning to read Lao and children learning English, then rolling it out to underserved communities everywhere.
4.2%
of children under 5 in Laos have 3+ children's books at home (1.3% in rural areas)
92.2%
of Lao households have a mobile phone: the devices are there, the books aren't
~30%
of grade 2 pupils couldn't read a single word of a simple text
Sources: Lao Social Indicator Survey II 2017 (Lao Statistics Bureau and UNICEF); Early Grade Reading Assessment, reported by the World Bank.
Video
Why we're building Scala’s Shelf.
The detail
Open any section to read more.
The problemA reading crisis driven by access, not ability.
Physical books are expensive to produce and import, and hard to distribute across remote, mountainous areas. Every new reading level or language needs another print run. In Laos, almost 30% of grade 2 pupils couldn't read a single word of a simple text in a national reading assessment.
| Measure | Laos | Comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Young children in households with at least one children's book (UNICEF surveys, same method everywhere) | 19.6% | 91%, median of high-income countries |
| Children under 5 with three or more children's books | 0.1% of the poorest | 18% of the richest |
| Children with books of their own | fewer than 1 in 7 aged 7–14 have even three books at home | 90.2% of 5–18-year-olds in the UK own a book |
Sources: LSIS II 2017; Manu et al., Journal of Global Health 2019; National Literacy Trust 2024.
How it worksWrite, generate, review, read offline.
1 · Write
A local writer or teacher writes a story scene by scene, in Lao or English.
2 · Generate
AI helps with illustration and translation, and a level check flags words that are too hard.
3 · Review
An adult reviewer checks every book before release; partner teachers check samples.
4 · Read offline
Books download once to low-cost Android phones (about 130 KB a book) and read with no internet.
Where we are: a live interactive design, with the core features in development. The screens show a demo book with demo illustrations. Finishing the app takes about 1–3 months once hosting and development tools are funded.
Why phonesThe devices are already there; the books aren't.
| Laos, same national survey (2017) | All households | Rural |
|---|---|---|
| Households with a mobile phone | 92.2% | 89.4% |
| Children under 5 with three or more children's books | 4.2% | 1.3% |
| Households with internet at home | 1.7% | 0.7% |
That's why Scala’s Shelf works offline. And reading on phones works: a UNESCO study of more than 4,000 mobile readers in seven developing countries found that people read more once they start reading on a phone, and a third read stories to children from their phones.
Sources: LSIS II 2017; DataReportal 2025; UNESCO, Reading in the Mobile Era (2014).
How it comparesPartners, not rivals.
| Existing option | What it does well |
|---|---|
| Let's Read (The Asia Foundation) | Free local-language children's books, including Lao, readable offline |
| Bloom (SIL) | Tools for levelled and decodable books in any language |
| StoryWeaver (Pratham Books) | Creating and translating children's stories in many languages |
| Print publishers (Room to Read, Big Brother Mouse) | High-quality Lao children's books |
What Scala’s Shelf adds: new illustrated, levelled books in weeks without hiring an illustrator, a comic format, built-in word meanings and quizzes, and a level check that helps writers stay at the reader's level. Openly licensed stories from these libraries can become Scala’s Shelf comics, and our books can be shared back.
The pilot12 months in Laos, built into existing classes.
- Sites: two committed partners, a non-profit village programme and an English class at a Lao school, with room for up to two more.
- An extra, not a replacement: children take turns reading in small groups, 2–3 sessions a week alongside existing lessons, on 3 shared phones per site.
- Library: at least 100 books in Lao and English across four reading levels, made by two local content creators.
- Measuring results: EGRA-based reading and vocabulary checks at the start, middle and end, with results by age and gender, and quarterly progress reports.
- Status: we're seeking pilot funding now.
Child safeguardingChildren are protected by default.
- No child accounts; devices can be shared safely.
- No ads and no in-app purchases for children, ever.
- Every book, including anything made with AI, is reviewed by an adult before children see it.
- Used only within existing classes and programmes, following Lao consent law.
- Results are reported without children's names.
Read the full ADMAIS Child Safeguarding Policy, or report a concern to safeguarding@admais.xyz.
Open and sustainableFree for children, open for everyone.
- Open: the code is MIT-licensed (github.com/knivesthao/ScalasShelf), and the books and guides are released under Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0), so the library can outlive any one organization.
- Who pays: organizations, never children: sponsored libraries, per-site licences for schools and NGOs, and commissioned books.
- Later: the same tools grow into an AI-assisted book maker with a paid model for organizations and creators, and that revenue helps keep the children's library free.
- Low running costs: serving books adds no cost; running the app costs about US$20 a month.
TeamBuilt in Laos, with local educators.
- ADMAIS Lao, a Lao-registered company, leads the pilot. Program director Didy Yatongmoua leads partnerships and creator recruitment and training, and reviews every book.
- Software director Yee Thao (ADMAIS US) brings more than 15 years of software engineering, including platforms for 3M and Renaissance Learning.
- Local content creators write the books in Lao and English.
- Partner educators bring Scala’s Shelf into the classes they already teach.
TechnologyOffline-first, low-cost, open.
- Reader: a web app that installs on Android phones and works offline after one download, and will also be on Google Play.
- Creator Studio: scene-by-scene writing, a reading-level check, word meanings and quiz drafting.
- AI: assists with illustration and translation; usage is tracked per book to compare models and lower costs.
- Infrastructure: Cloudflare Workers and D1, on low-cost plans.