Reading Badge of Slovenia Association
History
Wanting to provide an alternative to the school compulsory reading, writer Leopold Suhodolčan and teacher Stanko Kotnik conceived the idea for the Reading Badge competition. Having read a certain number of books, children were awarded a badge, as collecting them was very popular with children in the late 1950s. The badges featured acclaimed Slovene poets and writers from the regions where certain badges were awarded.
Reading Badge Movement
Today's Reading Badge builds on the tradition of the original 36 Reading Badges, but has since become a modern movement for the promotion of reading. The Reading Badge of Slovenia Association seeks to enhance the reading culture, especially among young people. It encourages free-time reading and fosters better functional literacy. The association has developed various programmes that encourage family reading, e.g. the Preschool Reading Badge, which stimulates parents to read to pre-school children and to children at the beginning of primary education. The Reading Badge movement now covers all of Slovenia and also its neighbouring countries with Slovene-speaking children, including those of Slovene migrant workers.
The committee of the Reading Badge of Slovenia Association monitors its development by way of issuing motivational material for young readers, preparing education seminars, publishing material for mentors and organising meetings with authors of children literature in schools and libraries. It collaborates with experts from the fields of children literature and literary didactics as well as public libraries, the Slovenian Association of Friends of Youth, Pionirska - Centre for Youth Literature and Librarianship, Slovene Reading Association, Slovene Writers’ Association, Association of Slovene Publishers, Otrok in knjiga journal, Slovene Section of IBBY, and a range of book clubs, publishing houses, bookstores and other educational and cultural institutions.
See also
External links
- Reading Badge of Slovenia Association website (in Slovenian)
- Reading Badge of Slovenia Association information (in English)