Stimulating Early Childhood Reading in Bulgaria

During the period February 15 – June 15, 2020, 3 donations were received with a total value of 68.91 dollars. The books received under the project are presented to the local communities and arouse great interest among children and their parents. We will briefly present the work in 2 of the libraries included in the project.

The children's books received in the Library at the Chitalishte „Petar Bogdan – 1909” – Chiprovtsi are presented in the school to primary school students who have read a series of separate books; in the Retirement Club „Edelweiss”, where the elderly were impressed by the beautiful books and promised to promote them among relatives and acquaintances; in Kindergarten "Detelina" in front of the children from the nursery and from the other groups, where they read verses from the four books about the seasons. Most of the children attending Kindergarten "Detelina" live in the villages of Chiprovtsi municipality and travel by minibus. Through the director and the children's teachers, the parents of all their graduates learned about the donated books of the Chitalishte library and the opportunity to take advantage of them.

Several reading events were held in the library: the children from the preschool group from Kindergarten "Detelina" viewed the exhibition of the latest children's books and the book "The Forest Library" was read; third-graders from the school read a series of books about Barbapapa Family.This was followed by visits by parents with children from kindergarten and from the first and second grade of the school. Some preferred to read to their children in the library on their own, including with the participation of the librarian. Others also chose books for home reading.

From February 2020 in the library at the Chitalishte "Fakel – 1926" – Zverino, Mezdra municipality already has a separate place for a children's department, where the books are carefully arranged. The accent in the renovated room is a mural based on the Bulgarian folk tale "Grandpa takes a turnip", painted by local talented artists – Nelly Stoyanova and Tsvetanka Stoyanova, and the librarian Stiliyana Stoyanova.

The children from the preparatory group of Kindergarten "Zvezdichka" visited the library and looked at the new books received under the project. The librarian read interesting stories, provoked their interest and they asked questions. In November 2019, a "Magic Box of Fairy Tales" was created with the new books from the project, which travels every month from the Chitalishte "Fakel – 1926" to the Kindergarten "Zvezdichka". The librarian also organized visits with elementary school students at school "St. Kliment Ohridski", with whom she conducted a chain reading – with the idea to read carefully, thoroughly and meaningfully to get the most out of reading.

In November and December 2019, books purchased under the project "Stimulating Early Childhood Reading in Bulgaria" and sent to the 14 libraries were inventoried and brought to the library and made available for use by children and parents. Readings with children and parents are organized at the libraries with new books, as well as visits to kindergartens where children can browse the books and the adults read them.

In selecting the books, we were guided by the words of Russian pedagogue Boris Nikitin, who developed a methodology for early childhood development: "You think are you just buying a toy? No, you're designing a human person with that", which we put it: "You think are you just buying a book? No, you're designing a human person with that". Led by the desire to cultivate good aesthetic taste and a sense of the beautiful in children, we selected books with fascinating texts and beautiful illustrations, picture books with compelling stories, poems and tales from Bulgarian and foreign authors and illustrators. Another part of the books helps children to acquire useful knowledge and skills about life, family, environment – educational books on various topics, books-games (puzzles, cubes, cards), books with lids and other moving elements to spark interest to the books in the youngest children.

We have come up with a set of ideas for organizing readings with books on different topics, divided into two age groups – from 1 to 3 years and from 4 to 6 years. So far, we have sent the first 3 parts to our colleagues, and we are currently working on the last 4 parts. They list books that are relevant to a specific topic (Get to know nature, My family, What we know about vehicles, The world of animals, Learn to cook, How to become better, When you need a friend, etc.), as well as suggestions for activities that can be organized with them for the children and their parents at the library. An album has been created on the BLIA's Facebook profile, which publishes photos of the books on different topics along with the necessary instructions and description of the books.

And here are two shared stories:

In December 2019, the librarian of Chitalishte ”Hristo Botev – 1898” – Rila holds a meeting in the group “Sun” at the kindergarten in the city with the parents and their children. They talk about children's development and the benefits of early childhood reading, how to build connection, closeness, trust through the book and play, and that by cultivating a love for the book and reading, children will have a better chance of achieving their goals and then lead successful lives as adults. The meeting ends with a workshop for parents and children to create "swing toys", similar to the books "swings" donated to the project. With the appropriate materials (plastic caps, plasticine, colored paper, glue, pencils), a lot of desire, love and inspiration, parents and children make "swing toys" – bunnies, bears and snowmen.

A young mother, a reader at the library of the Chitalishte ”Pencho Slaveikov – 1871” – Tryavna, goes to choose Christmas books for her daughter, who is 5 years old. She picks up a few, including the “Snow White’s Cakes”, which received from the project. On her next visit to the library, she shares with the librarian that the girl asked her grandmother to copy all the recipes from the booklet to make sweets together.

Links:

• Ideas for organizing readings with children's books