The project BOKTRAS is based on cooperation between public libraries and kindergartens, the aim being to introduce young children to literature.

By setting up branch libraries in kindergartens
the libraries involved reach
out to more families than those who
already know about and make use of
library services.

In this way family access to children’s
books is no longer restricted by pressures
of time, distance to the nearest
library or opening hours. The libraries
use the kindergarten as an arena for the
active promotion of literature, thereby
helping to develop the children’s
language and social skills.

BOKTRAS is a 3-year project. The
National Centre for Reading Education
and Research at the University of Stavanger
and the Norwegian Archive, Library
and Museum Authority are project
originators and participants. Three
public libraries and seven kindergartens
from three municipalities take part
in the project, carrying out and testing
various initiatives.

A culture of reading

The main objective of BOKTRAS is to
create a culture of reading in kindergartens
through cooperation with libraries.
Secondary objectives include
- strengthening kindergarten efforts to
stimulate language skills through
reading activities

- providing access to new and relevant
literature by setting up branch
libraries within the kindergartens

- encouraging reading habits among
children and their parents

- increasing the awareness among
adults of the importance of reading
activities

Reading activities

The kindergartens participating provide
the facilities for activities and
arenas to encourage linguistic interplay,
such as reading aloud, storytelling,
conversation, word games, jingles and
others. Culture for reading requires a
balance between adult initiatives and
those taken by the children themselves.
All the children take part in these activities.

One of the most important activities is
reading aloud. This provides children
of different backgrounds, reading experience
and verbal skills with a shared
experience and a common point of
reference. Reading aloud has a strong
language-stimulating effect, while at
the same time giving pleasure both to
the listeners and to the reader.

Shared reading experiences offer a concrete,
unifying starting point for conversation
with children.When children
talk about books, they use their own
experience in order to understand the
text. Talking together is activating and
stimulating because it encourages the
children to think aloud and become
more aware of language. Both the
reading aloud and the subsequent
talking together provide children with
a useful pattern for their own use of
words. In addition they acquire experience
in the ‘rules of conversation.

Photo:iStockphoto

Linguistic, cultural and social skills

Systematic language stimulation in
kindergartens is central to a child’s
early learning to read. The tradition
has been for language activities to be a
voluntary and occasional event in competition
with other activities. Children
tend to choose the activity they are best
at and which appears most meaningful
to them. Those who already possess
good language skills are more likely to
choose to participate in reading activities
than those whose command of language
is less developed. This gives a
considerable advantage to those children
who feel at home with books and
happily choose reading in contrast to
those who reject this activity.

According to Wagner (Bok i bruk i
barnehagen 2007, page 44) research
shows that a good language environment
in kindergartens is important. It
can help to balance out social differences
between children because “children
with reading problems tend to
read very little, have less contact with
the written word than others and
consequently tend to fall further and
further behind.”

In a social context it is of fundamental
importance to understand others and
to be understood. Children learn language
among themselves through play
and interaction but it is up to adults to
create and supervise the activities and
arenas necessary to develop and improve
these language skills. In BOKTRAS
kindergarten personnel, librarians
and parents use literature to
improve the language skills of all the
children.

Reading provides room for new experiences,
play and learning. Reading activities
help to develop a child’s linguistic,
cultural and social skills. Literature
can give children a feeling of identity
and self-recognition. It can lead to
a greater understanding of the world
around and to the development of tolerance
and empathy. Reading is important
for increased self-confidence
when dealing with text and language. A
child familiar with the written word
gains confidence in language as a vehicle
for thoughts. Giving children the
opportunity to develop good language
skills at an early age is of permanent
benefit to them throughout the rest of
their lives.

Boys and girls

Generally girls take part in languagestimulating
activities more than boys.
In the BOKTRAS kindergartens, however,
everybody participates in reading
activities. In some cases the kindergarten
divides the children into groups
according to sex in order to vary their
reading experiences.

Children with language difficulties

Good language is vital to a child’s
social interaction with other children.
Children with a poor command of
language are not always easily understood
by other children. They may find
themselves excluded from games or
given roles to play where language is
less important. As a result the child
may withdraw completely or perhaps
deliberately ruin the game for the other
children. It is very important to
strengthen and improve their language
skills as early as possible in order to
avoid their entering a vicious circle,
both linguistically and in relation to
other children.

Functionally disabled children
One of the kindergartens participating
in the BOKRAS project has a special
programme aimed at children with
multifunctional disabilities. Reading
activities have proved to have a positive
effect on the children, many of whom
now choose a book instead of a toy.
Books are used in a variety of different
situations and personnel can register
an improvement and a positive effect.
Parents of these children discover that
by reading aloud they can create a
positive atmosphere and that the sound
of their voices has a beneficial effect.

Children’s own initiatives

BOKTRAS shows how children take
the initiative to use literature in their
own way. They include literature in
their games, ask to be read to, read for
themselves and read to others. The
children create their own initiatives
based on the reading activities they
have participated in.When playing
with other children, they adapt and
develop the knowledge and experience
gained from reading activities. These
initiatives underline how important it
is for kindergarten personnel to act as
intermediaries and role models.

Families with small children

Parents represent a vital target group.
By establishing their kindergarten
branches, the libraries reach families
which have never previously made use
of library services. Books can be borrowed
by both children and their parents,
giving access to good literature in
a place which they visit all the time.

The way ahead

BOKTRAS project still has one year to
run and looks forward to making
further progress. We hope to obtain
more experience from kindergartens
with children from ethnic minorities,
and how to attract families to visit the
library and be made aware of the width
of services available to them.
The results from BOKTRAS will be
valuable to the future work of libraries
in introducing literature to children of
kindergarten age, throughout the
country. County libraries will have a
significant role to play in disseminating
this knowledge and experience with a
view to encouraging all the libraries in
their region to establish branch libraries
in their local kindergartens.

Liv Beathe Bråthen

adviser
Norwegian Archive
Library and Museum Authority

liv.beathe.bråthen@abm-utvikling.no

Translated by Eric Deverill