If you have a child aged three or younger, you will not be surprised to hear that the Bookstart initiative has been giving all newborn babies in Lithuanian hospitals a gift bag since November 2021. “Just as a small seed can produce a much more abundant harvest, this little box will be the key to a baby becoming a reading, thinking, creative, responsible, and civic-minded person,” the authors of the initiative claim.
Indeed, while every child grows up to read independently at his or her own pace, it is possible to help, motivate, and shape his or her tastes from birth. For this magazine issue, we looked at how early reading is promoted in libraries. Special activities for families are held in four branches of Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Public Library.
Curious Toddlers Club in Palemonas
According to Jūratė Remezė, senior Librarian of the Palemonas branch, the first incentive for the Curious Toddlers Club came from the reading program developed by Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, “The example of other libraries also inspired us, and we continue to be motivated by the fact that these meetings of mothers and their toddlers are really popular and needed here.” According to her, mothers – and one father – come to the Palemonas Gymnasium library from this part of Kaunas, as well as from Neveroniai.
“We’ve had children who first came to us as babies, at 3 months old, but most are brought at 10-11 months when they already want to communicate. From one autumn to the next, you could say, they grow up before our eyes and the entire generation goes to kindergarten together,” the librarian tells us about the regular visitors. Palemonas Curious Toddlers Club meets at 11 a.m. According to J. Remezė, toddlers are not as tired during the first half of the day and mothers usually go for a walk at that time, so it is convenient to come to the library as well, and then to put the child to sleep outside.
What do Palemonas residents read? “We follow the recommendations – the vocabulary of the books should be simple, there should be rhythm and rhyme, so I choose poems, preferably not very long so that the children can keep their attention or interactive books that can be stroked, knocked on, etc.,” the specialist working at the Palemonas library says. She reads together with the parents: sitting in a circle, everyone reads a line. Children’s attention-getters, such as rattles, are also needed.
“I see how older children, those who have outgrown the club, ask their parents to bring them back to the library. For them, it’s as natural a leisure space as a store. I’m convinced they learn to read more easily and feel a greater desire to read than those who visit us for the first time at the age of seven,” J. Remezė assesses the value of the activities.
Curious Kids Club in Dainava
The Children’s Literature Section of the V. Kudirka Library is located near Dainava Park, where young visitors with their moms and dads have been enjoying the V. Kudirka Library’s Summer Reading Room. “I am convinced that children need to hear books read to them from the very first days – it is not only about developing a sense of language and a wider vocabulary but also about building a relationship with the child. Reading with a child always brings positive emotions and creates a sense of community and security,” children’s literature writer Šarūnė Baltrušaitienė, who works there, says. The Curious Kids Club of children aged 0-2 meets twice a month.
“I always look for a book that is not only of the right length, but also has a plot, illustrations, and an overall design that contributes to the child’s development. We also usually try to do a simple activity related to the book, which will help develop fine motor skills and other abilities. Mothers often say that it was here, in the library, that their child first drew with their fingers or held a paintbrush,” Chief Librarian Š. Baltrušaitienė, who needs several days to prepare for the class, tells us of her responsibility in selecting the readings.
Just like in Palemonas, in Dainava books are also read in a circle with mothers inviting their children to settle on their laps, “This creates the perception that we are reading together with our mothers, and that’s a lot of fun. And if the child doesn’t want to be around at the time, that’s okay too – even though he or she is exploring the environment and his or her peers, the magic of reading still works. And there have been times when, while one mother is reading, another child grabs the book from her hands and brings it to their mother to read.”
An interesting effect of the Curious Kids Club is that parents who have accompanied their little ones also start visiting the library after these classes, taking out books for themselves and their children. Of course, there are more benefits for adults. “When I was raising my own son, who was not yet in kindergarten, I loved the days when we planned to go out together. And the mothers who come to our meetings are very happy to be able to go out, to talk, to see how their child is getting on with their peers, and, of course, to have a fun and meaningful time,” Š. Baltrušaitienė concludes.
The first friendship with a book in Šančiai
“Šarūnė is the one who started this club, and I took over the helm when she left to work in the Children’s Literature Department,” Birutė Jonykaitė, who works in the Šančiai branch of the library, which celebrated its centenary last year, speaks kindly of her colleague. She says that the club’s activities opened her up to the world of children’s literature, “I fell in love with the books themselves, they are beautiful, pleasant to look through – they have a calming, relaxing effect. I’m grateful that I came here, even though I was really scared of this job at first.”
Families with children aged 3-6 are welcome at the Šančiai Club twice a month in the evenings. “When I came, I found children making friends, parents talking to each other, and I tried to maintain that. Now the first generation is grown up, going to school, but they come back to us too, even wanting to read a book to the little ones themselves – they have become the club’s helpers,” the librarian says.
People also come to the club from other parts of Kaunas, for example, Rokai. Some speak foreign languages among themselves, possibly having recently returned from abroad, “But the old-timers, of course, are from Šančiai, living nearby.” After reading the books that B. Jonykaitė selects from the newly published ones, or the ones that suit thematically or because of the season, the arts and crafts workshop takes place, and then it is time for games.
“With the International Day for Tolerance coming up (16 November), we’re going to do a book about the friendship between a mouse and an elephant, and last time we read Alice Hemming’s The Leaf Thief. Kęstutis Kasparavičius’ book will be a good choice before Christmas, and sometimes the children themselves come up with an idea, so I always take it into account,” B. Jonykaitė answers when asked who shapes the club’s repertoire.
For Those Not Yet in Kindergarten near Trys berželiai
Viktorija Lukoševičienė, a senior librarian who greets the readers at the Berželio library (she is also a bookstagrammer, with an account named Pelėdos skaitiniai), says that she long dreamed about the children’s mornings in the library, “I have always been fascinated by the concept of the library as a space open to all, and I believe in the power of early reading, so I wanted as many people as possible to hear about it, to discover it.”
In the pandemic year 2020, V. Lukoševičienė became a mother, and the library branch closest to her home proved to be the best place for socializing. “We used to come here just to hang out together, to change the environment, to leaf through books and I thought about how fun it would be if more mothers who were looking for a community would come here; if we could form a kind of children’s book club,” recalls the woman, who only later got a job at the so-called Berželis (the library is actually located near the three birch trees and the shopping center, which bore its name – Trys berželiai – in the past).
Toddler mornings named For Those Not Yet in Kindergarten began in February 2022, when the quarantine requirements for gatherings were relaxed. “I remember the first meeting so well – the excitement and the warmth we all took home. We had a truly mom-like Valentine’s Day,” the mother recalls. The first season just flew by – everyone read, played, explored the library and the books, and just hung out together, in the community, while other family members and relatives were working.
“The library is full of kids’ clamor. I think that is the way that a relationship with a book is formed, new readers grow, and mothers take away the warmth in their hearts. My soul sings when mothers come back in the mornings with their second or even third child, and in the evenings the families that have already grown in size join in”, V. Lukoševičienė says. The librarian reads poems and engages in “literary sports” with the little ones as well as doing handicrafts, with the older ones they delve deeper into thematic literature – as the interviewee says – fairy tales that “leave something” in their minds or hearts. The children also have time to make a character from a book, followed by a cup of tea.
“You could say that the library has become a refreshing breath of fresh air for families, and, above all, it doesn’t cost anything. I certainly shed a few tears after sending “my” first babies to kindergarten,” the interviewee opens up. Like her colleagues from other departments, she enjoys it when children return to the library and feel brave when they hold out their hands to say hello when they know where their books are. “I don’t have a goal to teach children to read, but I try to make them interested in the world of a book, to experience that paper is also home to all kinds of emotions, that reading is not boring, and that being surrounded by books gives off a warm and magical aura… I think that these meetings lay the foundation for children to want to learn to read, and then not to give up. Both the book and the way to the library.”
The young readers’ clubs are free of charge and do not require pre-registration. For more information and branch addresses, please visit the website of Kaunas Vincas Kudirka Public Library.
