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Project OLL



About Our Little Library (OLL)

For sixteen years, Our Little Library project has been successfully encouraging love for reading among

Slovenian elementary students and preschool children. Organized by KUD Sodobnost International, the project began in 2008 with only 2,500 participating schoolchildren. It expanded to Polish and Lithuanian schools in 2014 and further to Croatia, Estonia, and Latvia in 2018.

In September 2024, Our Little Library will extend its reach to seven European countries; Italy, Estonia, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia and Poland. The project has gained momentum in Slovenia as well, with approximately 34,000 Slovenian children actively participating in our reading activities.

The project is comprehensive, employing various methods and activities to ignite a spark of love for books, aiming to educate a generation of lifelong readers. At the beginning of the school year, students receive so called Creativity books based on six outstanding (picture)books. When selecting those, we of course focus on quality, whilst also striving to introduce children to contemporary authors/illustrators from across Europe to encourage awareness of a common European literary identity.

Two Creativity Books are available for different age groups of readers: the first is intended for older preschool children and the lower grades of primary school, while the second is meant for third-, fourth- and fifth-graders. Participants can sign up for exciting additional activities, such as the

Exchange of Literary Characters, Surprise Letters, written by one of the authors, contests for the

Longest Reading Train and Best Reading Corner, author’s and illustrator’s visits … As part of the

project, we assist teachers with suggestions how to encourage reading and we organise a seminar on different strategies to promote reading.

The European Commission has bestowed the title “Success Story” upon this project, which has also received recognition from IBBY Slovenia in 2021.

 

What does the project offer?

  • Creativity books that provide participants with engaging tasks related to 6 books.
  • Exciting additional activities designed to motivate reading in various child-friendly ways.
  • Rewarding visits from authors and illustrators.
  • Throughout the year, we provide guidance through the individual phases of the project, step by step.
  • Every mentor can choose how they will participate with their class and decide in which additional activities they would like to partake.

 

What do the mentors say?

 

/…/ A great motivation for reading high-quality books are Creativity Books, which include tasks based on the theme of the featured books. These tasks are fun and foster children’s creativity and imagination, demanding more detailed reading and observation. Students solve crosswords, write imaginative recipes, poems, draw, and solve detective tasks /…/ (mentors Maja Papler and Barbara Zorman, OŠ Matija Čopa Kranj)

 

/…/ Participation in Our Little Library project has motivated fourth-graders to read a book they probably wouldn’t have picked up otherwise. For mentors, the book has sparked numerous ideas for work, which they are now enthusiastically putting into practice. The experience was so positive that they plan to use a similar approach for other books included in the project by KUD Sodobnost International /…/ (mentors Maja Bubuk, Tatjana Kranjc Barič, Sonja Rebernik, Mojca Šon, OŠ Petrovče)

 

/…/ We mentors believe that the project has exceeded our expectations because, in addition to the set goals, it has united the class into a community, making reading enjoyable for everyone /…/ (mentors Sabina Burkeljca and Anita Gaber Peceli, OŠ Rodica)