Where are the books from ?

Aims:

Make students more aware of the origin of the books they are reading. Emphasizing on books from the Nordic countries.

Make it easy for students to find Nordic books at the library.

Encourage students to read books from the Nordic countries.


Introduction:

… to teachers:

  • Introduce the Northern book project “Where are the books from?” to teachers in the school.

  • Ask teachers to let you know when they are teaching students about the Northern countries, tell them that it's ideal to draw their students attention to read Nordic books at the same time. Invite the teacher to come with the students to the library. Encourage students to read Nordic books.

Preparation:

  • The teacher at the library must look at the book log and find which authors from the Nordic countries have books at the school library. On the section, Authors, is a list with the name of each Nordic country and some of their famous children's authors. The teacher must look over the list and add or delete the authors names consistent with their bookkeeping. When the list is ready, it is ideal to print it out. It’s important to look over the list each year because we are always hoping to add some new authors on the list.

  • Flags for each Nordic country is in several documents in the section Flags, it'd be best to print it out.

  • You must have book plastic. Cut a 2 cm wide plastic line to stick the flags on the book spine. The plastic must go at least 1 cm from the spine on each side of the book.


Introduction:

… to students:

  • Ask students about the book they are reading. Do they know where it was written? How can they find it out?

  • Tell the students that some of the books they are reading are translated into their language. They can find the original name of the book on the back side of the title page. Ask them to try reading the title and guess the original language.

  • Tell students that many books at the library are from nearby countries. They are originally written in other northern languages. Ask the students how they can easily recognize these books when they're in the library. Tell them that the book spine is ideal to put a label that refers to its original country due to the fact that it is at the front when the books are lined up in a bookshelf.

  • What can we put on the book spine that represents the country the books are from? A small label or sticker is ideal, for example a national flag.

Work with students:

  • Invite students to find books from the Nordic countries. It works best for those students who are already learning about the Nordic countries. Use the list of the authors names to help students track books. The school librarian can prepare this work and put books from each country in a stack.

  • Let the students label the books, it's good to let two students work together. They should first cut out the flags. Put a flag on book plastic and then put it on the book spine. You can see pictures of this activity in materials, image under the name, Where are the books from?

  • Encourage students to read books from the Nordic Countries.

Valuate:

  • In conversations with students is good to notice their knowledge on books. Do the students take it as granted if the book is in their language and that it has also been written in their country?

  • Are students aware if a book is written by a foreign author and knows about their nationality?

  • Do the children recognize the Nordic flags and notice them on the book spines?