In the universal library

Children's reading holiday

On 25 - 31 March, the Universal Library named after D.I.Blokhintsev will host Children's Book Week, an all-Russian event aimed at popularizing literature for children. The programme includes meetings with children's writers and illustrators, master classes, an exhibition of children's drawings, a quest and much more.

Children's Book Week is traditionally held at the end of March and is one of the largest events to promote books and reading. It is held in libraries, schools, publishing houses, bookstores, theaters, museums and other cultural and educational institutions. For the first time, the children's book holiday "Book Name Day" was held in Moscow on 26 March, 1943, on the initiative of the classic of Russian children's literature Lev Kassil. Since then, the initiative has undergone significant changes and eventually turned into an all-Russian action.

Dubna will take an active part in it this year, holding a number of its own events at the Blokhintsev Universal Library under the motto chosen this year by the Russian State Children's Library (Moscow) "The family reads, the country reads."

"We are preparing a rich programme for these days for children and their parents," senior librarian Olga Gaponova says. "Together with the Children's Art School we are organizing an exhibition of paintings: the children will try themselves as artists and draw illustrations for the books they have read. And then they will be able to talk to a real artist themselves: one of the illustrators from the publishing house "40 Books" will come to us and carry out a series of master classes on drawing with children. The publishing house "Career Press" invites everyone to discuss the book "Bob, the One and Only" with children 8-10 years old. We have invited two famous writers Andrey Zhvalevsky and Evgenia Pasternak that write mainly for a teenage audience and often co-author. They have slightly fantastic, dynamic texts about almost ordinary school everyday life and their books are quite popular in the library. We invite teenagers and their parents to this meeting that will have the opportunity to talk with real writers, ask questions about modern children's literature, trends in its development and simply chat in a warm, friendly atmosphere. Another event has been prepared by the teenagers themselves and we are very proud of them! They have created their own adventure quest dedicated to literary cats that will appeal to children of any age and their parents."

Children's and Youth Book Week is a celebration of joyful talk, the discovery of new names, new heroes and perhaps undeservedly forgotten books and their authors, as the library promises. This is an opportunity to see with your own eyes those who create modern children's literature, professionals in their field. Everyone is invited to participate in Children's Book Week.

Ksenia MORUNOVA,
photo from the archive of Daria Konova