Bookstart Around the World 1
Bookstart Around the World healthcare services an
d preschools is vital. However, the exact local setup of Bokstart is left fairly open for municipalities and regions to design themselves, although there are some requirements that a Bokstart initiative should satisfy; it must: • constitute a longterm initiative for stimulating language and reading development in children at an early age • target children aged between 0–3 years old, as well as adults that are close to them • be based on the individual needs of each family and child • strengthen the important role of parents in the child’s language and reading development • develop sustainable collaborations between public libraries, paediatric healthcare services and preschools The Swedish Arts Council allows leeway for organisations to interpret and explore methods in their Bokstart efforts (applies to the current 2017–2020 government assignment). A majority of municipalities and regions have started with families with newborn babies, for whom they have to some extent had an intercultural and/or socioeconomic perspective. The initiatives often involve various combinations of home visits and group meetings. The most common way has been for libraries to make home visits and arrange various kinds of group meetings for Bokstart families. Several Bokstart projects involve the child healthcare services, which hold book discussions and distribute books as gifts during their regular home visits. As a first step in Bokstart, preschools have often arranged cloakroom libraries, and all over the country, various efforts are now being made to involve preschools more in Bokstart. Bokstart in Sweden is currently working to formulate a national framework for how the Bokstart concept can be designed for a municipality or region. This overview of current knowledge is one component for inspiring such a framework. Bokstart is organised nationally by the Swedish Arts Council, and, in addition to granting financial resources to the project, they have also provided skillsdevelopment initiatives, such as training conferences and experience sharing for project participants. The Swedish Arts Council’s supportive efforts also include providing information materials and the dissemination of knowledge. The material that the Swedish Arts Council currently provides to Bokstart projects consists of information material on language development in young children of various ages (6 months, 12 months, 18 months and 3 years) in 25 different languages; folders containing tips and advice for parents regarding promoting reading at an early age; cards for use when contacting the families; and cloth bags displaying the Bokstart logo. There are some examples described below regarding the bookgifting programme as part of the global EURead network. These descriptions are based on interviews and other sources as stated. 3.3 The United Kingdom BookTrust is the UK’s largest charity for promoting reading amongst children. BookTrust gets most of its funding from the Arts Council England, with additional financial support coming from trust funds and donations. Bookstart is one of many programmes run by BookTrust. All children in England and Wales are eligible to be part of the programme and receive free books. The programme reaches approximately 650,000 families every year. Bookstart is organised at the national and local levels. The national level has overall responsibility for organising Bookstart and provides support in all matters relating to it. Local Authorities implement Bookstart and give books to families. BooksTrust’s regional managers serve as intermediaries and aim to foster the relationship and communications between those on the national and local levels. The national level supports, for example, the local programmes by providing a number of different guides and other materials for the Bookstart practitioners who meet with families (BookTrust, 2019b). At present, Bookstart consists of three programmes aimed at different target groups: Bookstart Baby12/52