Promote reading culture

It is one of our primary goals to help children reach good quality books and encourage them to read. We strongly believe that reading as a habit will enrich children’s lives by fostering their emotional, cognitive, and psychological development; and by reading more they not only develop better language skills but be more creative and academically more successful.

To reach our goals, as All Children are Ours, we worked in 68 provinces, and supplied more than 60.000 books to school libraries.

Our Projects were chosen and published as poster subjects at IBBY 2018 Congress. Our ‘Book Tree ‘was elected to represent Turkey at 2020 IBBY to compete for the ASAHI Reading Promotion Award.

Our Projects to Promote Reading Culture

 

School Libraries

Kocaeli – Gebze Atatürk Elementary School Library

We built 20 libraries in 9 provinces like Antalya, Ardahan, Bilecik,Erzurum, Istanbul,Izmir, Kocaeli, Mardin, Rize… and many more bookshelves at the corridors and classrooms of schools where purpose-built library rooms did not exist.

 

Book Ties Project

We have a model tree constructed from steel, and from 2016 on we displayed it at numerous book fairs like TUYAP, private company gatherings and school events to help raise book donations for the schools in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Our steel tree created invaluable ties between communities and made books accessible to an ever-increasing number of children in a simple and effective way.

 

Branches of our tree loaded with books

Share goodness with all children

Book-Ties Cards

Book-Ties Cards, by creating valuable connections through book donations are designed to serve both our corporate and individual donors to share their special days messages with their clients, employees and loved ones.

 

Book Reading Workshops

Dodo is Reading Project

‘Dodo is Reading’ Volunteers before hitting the classrooms

Throughout İstanbul and İzmir a bunch of volunteers participated in this ‘reading workshop’ for elementary school children, and covered subjects like friendship, emotions, diversity, and bullying. Selda Özen, with her professional experience in child psychology oversaw the project; and executed a very engaging program, twice every month during the whole school year. Volunteers from various backgrounds were trained by a drama coach GÖKÇE TUNCER, two well-known, highly acclaimed children’s books writers TÜLİN KOZİKOĞLU and ŞİİRSEL TAŞ and read a selection of books, each reading session followed by a carefully planned set of complementary exercises.

In 2022 we made book reading activities at Children’s and Youth Centers of İzmir Municipality and Neighborhood Libraries of Istanbul Municipality.

Dodo is Reading’ in action,
İstanbul Kağıthane Harmantepe İlköğretim Okulu

 

“>Istanbul ELVER Young Volunteers Project

There is plenty of research evidence pointing the significance of positive role models in the development of children, yet in the socially and economically disadvantaged neighborhoods these types of role models are scarce. On the other side, young people from privileged backgrounds and elite schools cannot always find ways to know life outside their communities. This project served both sides. After completing training sessions with our experts, and with the guidance of the project coordinator Elif Poshor, a group of high school and university students met with the children of an elementary school in Fatih, BALAT at weekends, spent time together, played games together, read books together… and in the end, they had the opportunity to learn from each other.

Istanbul ELVER Young Volunteers
with the students of Fatih Balat
Şehit Fikret Metin Öztürk Elementary School

 

ELVER volunteers and students

 

Meet the Writer Projects


Tüyap Yazar Buluşmaları, 2017-18-19

TUYAP Meet the Writer Activities,
2018 – Meeting with Ege Erim, İstanbul Esenyurt
Sonnur Yalnızoğlu Elementary School Students

 

TUYAP Meet the Writer Activities,
2018 – Meeting with Şiirsel Taş, İstanbul Esenyurt
Sonnur Yalnızoğlu Elementary School Students

 

In 2016 when we first participated in TUYAP Book Fair, we observed that the school trip visits to the exhibition hall gave very little opportunity to the children to access books and let alone meet the writers.
We arranged with the nearby Esenyurt Sonnur Yalnızoğlu Elementary School to bring 500 children to the book fair to meet the writers in a meeting hall provided by the TUYAP management. 10 writers and illustrators met with children’s groups of 50, read their books and did creative activities with them. By the end of each session children received a signed copy of the books that we purchased for them.

Even though they live in the neighborhood, for most of the children it was the first time they attended the book fair and met a writer in person. The project lasted for 3 years in a row, and 1500 children benefited by spending quality time at the TUYAP International Book Fair.


Meeting with Writers at Schools

At various schools in several cities like Bilecik, Istanbul, Izmir and Sakarya writers visited children, read, and signed their books that were our gifts to the children attending the event.

İzmir Bayraklı 100. Yıl Elementary School,
Meeting Tülin Kozikoğlu