A BOOK FOR EVERY CHILD

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A BOOK FOR EVERY CHILD

• Swedish booksellers in partnership with schools
  and libraries

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A BOOK FOR EVERY CHILD- Swedish booksellers in
partnership with schools and libraries

• Stimulate children's reading
• Book talk and other reading activities in schools
  and libraries
• Study visit to the local bookshop
• Every child in participating school classes is
  allowed to choose a free book to keep

Initiative and financial contribution
Book-in-Sweden Foundation Program manager
Swedish Booksellers Association
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This is how it works

• An application is submitted by a bookseller,
  librarian or teacher, preferably all together
• A number of classes in one or more schools are
  chosen for the project - upper limit for each
  local project is around 200 students
• Teacher, librarian and bookseller present their
  plans for reading activities. Book talk, reading
  circles, exhibitions and reviews are useful
  ingredients
• Study visits to the bookshop are scheduled

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• Study visits to
• the bookshop
• Every child receives as a gift a book
• of his/her choice

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The score by November 2004

• Over 150 local projects have been supported
• Hundreds of teachers and librarians have
  contributed with book talk and various activities
  in the classroom
• More than 100 bookshops have been visited
• Booksellers have provided some 20 000
  schoolchildren with the book they have chosen

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Support in statistics

• 80 of Swedes read books for pleasure
• But not less than 1 million out of 7 million
  adults (age 16-84) never read a book. The number
  has actually increased since the beginning of the
  1980s.
• Note that this applies only to men. Among women
  the interest in literature and reading has been
  rather constant or even increased in certain
  groups.
• There is a dramatic divide between men's and
  women's reading habits.

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More stats

• The number of children, age 3-8, who are in daily
  contact with books has significantly decreased
  and the reading time has been halved. A slight
  turn is visible in the latest statistics.
• There is also a significant decrease in reading
  over the last ten years in the age group 9-14.
• These statistics underline the importance of
  efforts in the schools to try to "catch" the
  children as early as possible and try to close
  the gender gap in reading habits.

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Reading promotion in many shapes
Government initiatives to support local
efforts Grant for the purchase of children's
books to people's libraries and school
libraries Special grant for reading
promotion Means for the production and
distribution of an annual catalogue of
children's books Publishing of low price
editions of quality books "En bok för alla"
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A book for every child joins government and
municipal efforts and strengthens the common
resources for successful reading promotion
Coordination with schools and libraries show
great variation and ingenuity Bjurholm - focus
on the art of story telling Sölvesborg - the
path of a book from
the writer's pen to the bookshop Gävle - reading
competitions
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Skärholmen - educa-tional collaboration between
library and school in "Wise Owl"
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How do they know what book to choose?

• Knowledge of the rich variety of possible reading
  experiences
• All adults - teachers, librarians, booksellers,
  parents - decide with their knowledge if the
  student is going to make a good book choice
• Grownups have to exert themselves to read
  books - even children's books

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Useful support for book choices

• Book Jury (Bokjuryn) - the 100-list
• Children's book circles in bookshops
• Catalogue "Books for children and young people"

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Catalogue "Books for children and young people"
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Getting the young to read is teamwork

• Important that many different actors participate
  and many different roads are tested in reading
  promotion
• It is a teamwork where "all good powers" are
  welcome
• School and library working together are in focus
• Booksellers can make a valuable contribution

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For the booksellers - a long-term engagement

• Focus on children and youth in Swedish bookshops
• Low price campaigns have made children's books
  easier available
• The reduction of Swedish VAT from 25 to 6 has
  had positive effects
• A book for every child moves on

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