History, goals and activities

„Children and Young Adult Jury”, formed in 2001, is the first reading promotion program in Latvia, which is aimed at creating the platform of strong reading culture for young generation.

Latvian experience in this field is mentioned on the list of the best European reading promotion projects. This program has been successfully adapted and run by German colleagues in Celle.

The main goals of the program are:

• To promote the interest in reading among  children and teenagers;
• To establish  reading promotion network in Latvia and  Latvian centers abroad;
• To encourage  children and young adults to share  thoughts about books;
• To promote the distribution of good literature.

The main tasks of the program are:

• To select recently issued books to renew the book collection
• To distribute book collection to libraries, which are involved in the project
• To motivate and educate librarians in reading promotion activities
• To develop discussions about books online
•  To establish „Children and Young Adult Jury” network in the country

Central idea of the program is : increasing reading skills among children and young adults will rise the quality of their future lives, improve their intellectual capacity and competitiveness.

How the programm work:

In the beginning of the year group of experts (from the field of children’s literature, sociology, pedagogy) selects books for the „Children and Young Adult Jury”. Selected books are divided into five segments according to the readers’ age : 5+ ; 9+ ; 11+ ; 15+ ; Parents Jury.

10 criteria for the „Children and Young Adult Jury” book selection:

1.Books by local authors from the previous years.

2.Outstanding translations from all over the world.

3.Picture books for the youngest.

4.Comics or publications that are original in their approach

5.Science fiction books

6.Books for boys

7.Books for girls

8.Poetry (one book for each of age groups)

9.Children literature classics or favourite books of parents and grandparents generations.

10.Books that concern essential questions, which are relevant for the young adult group.

Every member of  „Children and Young Adult Jury” should read (in specified period of time: normally in  8 or 9 months) at least 5 books from his/hers age segment. After books are read, every member of the groups is called to fill in the „Childrens and Young Adult Jury” form, where they are asked to answer questions about the books. Traditionally at the beginning of March the Big Reading Festival is taking place as a closing event of the reading marathon organized by National Library of Latvia Children Literature center specialists. Festival of reading gathers over 700 readers from all over the country in the capital Riga.

Reading promotion program „Children and Young Adult Jury” is run by specialists from Children Literature Center of National Library of Latvia in collaboration with regional curators and specialists from public and school libraries.