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Libraries in Sweden give kids a head start

By Santi WE Soekanto

Books should shine like suns,
and sparkle in the mind.
While we read books,
books read humankind.

Can books read us?
Why of course they can!
How else could they know
all about man?

--Lennart Hellsing

STOCKHOLM (JP): "Are there no children in Sweden? I have been here for three days and I haven't seen any children playing on the streets," a visiting Kenyan journalist, who's probably used to seeing children roaming the streets of developing countries, wondered aloud.

Marie Kr"nmarker, a Stockholm-based journalist, said the children were, of course, in school at the time but that it was true that Sweden has among the world's slowest population growth. In early 2000, Sweden's population amounted to 8,861,000. In 2003-2004, there will be just over 640,000 children below the age of seven.

The children did come out to play on the weekend and a great number were seen in the parks or funfairs as well as in the library. The facilities available for Swedish children are indeed a source of envy for a country like Indonesia, which still has to struggle not only with the ugly reality of street children and child labor, but also the absence of healthy education and recreation facilities for children.

Library

Take books, for example. In almost all Swedish cities, a child gets a book of their own as soon as they are born because the local library sends parents a gift book containing children's stories and nursery rhymes, as well as spaces to record the baby's milestones.

Gunl"g Raihle, head of the children's department of the Stockholms Stadsbibliothek (Stockholm Public Library), said the library also sends a card to new parents welcoming their baby and inviting them to take the child to the library.

"Then, we talk to them about the importance of reading and singing to children even at a very early age, about which books they should start the children on," she said here in mid-May. "We invite them to bring the child to storytelling sessions."

The children's department has in its collection more than 60,000 children's books in Swedish, English, Danish, Finnish and several other languages. There are also "talking books" for blind children -- which includes recordings of stories, with the book itself in braille and "pictures" made from various materials that the children can touch.

The department, which receives more than 140,000 visitors every year, also has special books for dyslexic children. It has videos containing stories in sign language. The World Adventures of Tintin, for example, is held there in the form of books, comics, videos and cassettes.

The library also has a number of computers where children can access the Internet and also play and learn with CD-ROMs on various subjects.

There is also a small theater where a skillful storyteller, Alfheidur Larusdottir, reads and acts out stories and poetry. "Children, from newborn babies up to four years old, find story telling fascinating, and it's such a pleasure for me too," Alf said.

Alf is a mother of three whose eldest son of 20 years old still bursts into their home shouting, "Mom, listen to this interesting piece I just read!"

Ulrika Almquist, a 13-year-old sixth grader, is a frequent visitor to the library. "Reading is interesting," she said cheerfully. "You get to know stuff, you get to go places."

Ulrika's favorite book is called Holes, a story about a boy who went to a camp for juvenile delinquents because he was thought to have stolen something. In the camp, the boy had to dig holes because the warden said it's good for discipline. One day, the boy dug a hole and found money.

Another favorite is The True Confession of Charlotte Doyle by a writer called Avi. The book is about a girl who was traveling on a ship in 1820 to Providence in the United States only to find herself involved in a mutiny.

Alf attributed Swedish children's high interest in reading to a strong tradition in reading. "Even the youngest child is read to," she said.

Indeed, Swedish children are spoilt for choice when it comes to reading for either pleasure or learning. The first children's library in Sweden opened on Drottninggatan at the center of Stockholm in 1911. Upon completion of the Stockholm Public Library in 1928, the children's library was moved there, soon becoming a model for children's libraries throughout the country.

Today there are 41 libraries throughout Stockholm (whose population is only 2 million) that cater to children, including the Comics Library at the Kulturhuset (the Culture Center), which has a large and unique collection of comics for both pleasure reading and reference.

The number of libraries is high because all city districts have at least one children's library, the most famous of which is the Astrid Lindgren-Elsa Olenius Room at the Medborgarplatsen Library, which contains a unique collection of Astrid Lindgren books in some 60 languages.

Astrid Lindgren ... does this ring a bell? Yes, the writer who created the legendary strong, pig-tailed and freckled Pippi Longstocking! The collection in this particular library exclusively consists of first editions. It was donated by Elsa Olenius in 1981, primarily for research purposes.

The library at the Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, "Bokskogen" (the Book Forest), offers books, cassettes, CDs and videos in many languages for its young patients. The Swedish Children's Book Academy was established in 1989 and is located at the Sk„rholmens library, containing the work of 18 authors of children's books.

With such a facility, Swedish children really can't help wanting to read.

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