During our session with the IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Associations and Institutions) in Bologna, both speakers (Patsy Aldana and Viviana Quiñones) stressed the importance of children having access to books which both reflect their experiences and open windows onto other customs and cultures. We were urged to pay a visit to the stand shared by a number of different African publishers, and there we met three very special publishers, all producing books to meet that demand.

The first two were librarians we had met at the session the day before: Antoinette F. Correa from BLD (Bibliothèque-Lecture-Développement) Éditions in Senegal and Pili Dumea of the Children’s Book Project (CBP) for Tanzania.

Antoinette, pictured right with a selection of her books, told me that she set up BLD Éditions to meet the needs of both teachers and pupils, who were crying out for access to good books in their own language. She is a well-known figure in the IFLA, and sees the continued development of libraries as crucial work: as well as publishing books, BLD helps to set up libraries and trains librarians.

Pili, pictured left, is secretary to the CBP for Tanzania, which, again, connects children with books published locally. Last year the CBP was awarded the UNESCO King Sejong Literacy Prize for its work promoting the love of books among children and adults. One eleven-year-old, talking about her school library, following the school’s affiliation to the CBP, said

“I have read most of the books in the school library which helped me learn about different topics through interesting stories told in our own national language, Kiswahili, which is easier to understand than English.”

The third publisher was Bakamé Éditions from Rwanda, who publish children’s books in the national language, Kinyarwanda, which is understood by all Rwandans. They also run various projects to promote reading, including their “Bibliothèque en route” – a rucksack library, which takes books out to children who do not have access to an actual library. It gets a tiny mention on their English pages, but if you read French, there’s more here. Editions Bakamé was the joint recipient of this year’s IBBY-Asahi Reading Promotion Award and this article on IBBY’s website is also an interesting read.

The work these organisations are doing is truly awe-inspiring and it was a real privilege to meet Antoinette and Pili.

Last week, I talked about Patricia Aldana’s address to the International Meeting of Children’s Librarians in Bologna. Our second speaker on that occasion was Viviana Quiñones, who spoke to us about the French national children’s book organisation La Joie par les Livres. After running through its history, she told us about some of their initiatives in promoting children’s books, such as travelling exhibitions of African books and books about the Arab world, the Caribbean and around the Indian Ocean. They also publish two magazines: “La Revue des livres pour enfants” and “Takam Tikou”, which focuses on multicultural books in French.

Of particular interest was what Viviana had to say about their work with libraries and independent publishers in Africa. Like Patricia Aldana, she stressed how important it is for children in Africa to find their own experiences mirrored in the books they read: and to read books that are reasonably up to date and written in their own language. In 1985, internationally renowned librarian Geneviève Patte visited Mali, where she found that most of the library books were inadequate… In 1987 she set up a service within La Joie par les Livres to collaborate with libraries and the publishers of African children’s books to promote locally published books. La Joie par les Livres also trains librarians, which contributes to raising the status of the libraries in the eyes of local communities.

Viviana said that there are still challenges, for example, with the distribution of books, but that in the world of African publishing, there are some inspirational stories. Afterwards, a book was recommended to me called Courage and Consequence: Women Publishing in Africa edited by Mary Jay and Susan Kelly and published by the African Books Collective. In fact, I had been sitting right next to Pili Dumea from Tanzania and across the room from Antoinette Correa from Senegal – both librarians turned publisher, whom I’ll be talking about in Part 3…

A recent NEA study has confirmed what many teachers, librarians, and booksellers have realized for a long time. Reading for fun is a declining pleasure, reading scores are plummeting in the classroom, and many adults suffer from low basic reading skills.

This discovery has begun a spirited discussion over how a child becomes addicted to the printed word and grows into becoming a lifelong reader. National Book Award winner, Sherman Alexie, who grew up on a Native American reservation, says that the book that made him love reading was The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

“It was the first time that I looked at a book and saw a brown, black, beige character, a character who resembled me physically and spiritually, in all his gorgeous loneliness and splendid isolation. The younger you are when you do that, the more likely you’re going to be a serious reader.”

As readers, whether we’re children or adults or somewhere in between, we are drowning in print. Bookstores and libraries teem with books, many of which are simply not very good. Our choices are overwhelming and, as we choose how to spend our limited amounts of time and money, our risks are great. Who can blame those who look at all of the possibilities, sample one or two unsatisfying selections, give up, and turn to other diversions?

“What I find with readers today is that they don’t go off on their own to another book. They wait for the next recommendation,” remarked Jonathan Galassi of Farrar, Straus and Giroux. For those who love nothing better than finding something new to read and taking a chance on it, his observation is dispiriting.

How do people become passionate and fearless readers, who happily move on to the next book, whether it has received the blessings of Oprah or the Newbery Medal or not? What is the book that made you a person for whom books are as essential as oxygen? What is your earliest “book memory?” How do you encourage the children you know and love to know and love books?

This is a conversation that needs as many participants and perspectives as possible, and we’re eager to hear what you have to say. Let’s talk.

Oakland Public Library “Children’s Room” librarian, Nina Lindsay, published an article last year at School Library Journal called “Bringing Home the World: A librarian puts forth a shopping list for international literature” (SLJ 2/1/2006), where she talks about the need for more children’s international literature in translation on publisher’s catalogs and in everyone’s bookshelves. She encourages one’s bookshelf to be like a food-rich refrigerator, packed with a variety of goodies: “Our reading lives should be like this: varied, changing, exciting – foreign.” I love when a librarian can mix children’s books with food for thought…

Read her article and then go ahead and add some new, foreign flavors to your children’s bookshelf. And feel free to look through our refrigerator for ideas.