Efforts to inspire love of books among young people

"Pulling" young people closer to books, loving books, reading books every day is not an easy problem, requiring many creative approaches.

The spread of a contest

Pham Thu Ha, a 12D student at Yen Mo A High School, is one of the three first prize winners of the Ninh Binh Reading Culture Ambassador Contest 2023. Thu Ha shared that for her, books are teachers and friends who nurture her soul, helping her to love and appreciate life. Books bring her many new opportunities. Thanks to books, she has met many friends and brothers and sisters who are very good in all areas from studying, working to life, people who have accompanied her or are accompanying her on different journeys. Books have become an indispensable part of her.

That is why when participating in the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest 2023 launched by Ninh Binh Provincial Library, Thu Ha was very excited and determined that this was an opportunity to express her love for books, as well as contribute to spreading the love of books to more people. Therefore, Thu Ha spent time reading the contest rules, collecting documents, pictures and focusing on writing.

As someone who has a special interest in national history, in this contest entry, she chose the topic of history, specifically the Dien Bien Phu Campaign. "Writing about history is inherently difficult because it requires thorough research and accurate knowledge. But with the desire to bring history closer to the younger generation, I wrote in the form of a short story, interspersing modern details to make it more interesting" - Thu Ha said.

In the short story, Thu Ha tells the story of Minh, a young man in modern times, who accidentally traveled back in time to the historical years of the past. Minh lived and fought with all his heart like a true soldier and sacrificed himself. After returning to the present, Minh continued his journey to bring history closer to the young generation, which is also our mission towards the heroic history of the Fatherland. Before writing, I spent a whole month reading documents and films about Dien Bien Phu to understand, to feel and to be able to write stories... The contest is also an opportunity for me to spread my love, respect and passion for reading to you.

Awakening interest, thereby kindling love, and cultivating reading habits for young people is one of the main goals of the Reading Culture Ambassador Contest that our province has focused on implementing since 2020. In fact, this goal has achieved many positive results. Every year, the number of students interested in and investing in works participating in the contest has increased in quantity and quality.

In the 2023 Reading Culture Ambassador Contest alone, after only 6 months of launching, after conducting preliminary selection in localities, the Contest Organizing Committee received 1,060 entries (including 1,039 handwritten entries, 21 video clips) from all 3 blocks with 67 participating schools, of which: primary school block has 30 schools with 445 entries, 3 video clips; secondary school block has 14 schools with 234 entries, 2 video clips; high school block has 23 schools with 360 entries, 16 video clips. The number of entries doubled compared to the 2022 contest.

Many efforts to bring books to the grassroots

As someone who has been nurtured with a love for books since childhood, Thu Ha, a student of class 12D, Yen Mo A High School, affirmed: The attention and support of parents and teachers are very important factors in bringing books closer to young people. When she entered secondary school, Thu Ha wanted to read more books to serve her studies and satisfy her curiosity and exploration. However, her family's conditions did not allow it, and she had not yet earned money, so having books to read became more difficult. Luckily, at that time, in Yen Mo district, there was a teacher named Bui Van Dong who opened a family bookshelf to lend books for free. Her path to books continued to be connected.

To "pull" young people to the colorful world of books, it is necessary to have the cooperation of many agencies, units, organizations and individuals through practical and meaningful activities. Currently, schools in our province all have libraries. In recent years, schools have also proactively invested in and created attractive reading spaces, and library activities have been organized more and more flexibly and creatively. Many schools always focus on building a close and friendly reading culture space. At the same time, new books from socialized sources are added to attract students to participate...

Along with that, every year the Provincial Library has also added books according to the needs of readers, especially the needs of young people, teenagers and children, contributing to enriching the children's bookshelf, meeting the diverse needs of young people. In order to create conditions for young people to read books more easily, the library has arranged a separate reading room fully equipped with light, clean and airy tables and chairs... to serve children to read books and look up information. Currently, the book collection of the Children's Reading Room is diverse with many genres that children are interested in such as: comics, fairy tales, books about historical figures, talented scientists at home and abroad...

Efforts to inspire love of books among young people — Students of Khanh An Primary School are excited to read books at the "Mobile Library".

In particular, to bring books to children in remote areas, the Provincial Library has organized mobile library vehicles to districts to create conditions for children in remote areas to access a rich source of books and newspapers. From there, it contributes to promoting the reading culture in the community in general, and among young people, teenagers and children in particular. Each year, the Provincial Library serves an average of 250 thousand readers.

To arouse the passion for reading in young people, it is necessary to have the participation and role models from adults. Ms. Lai Thi Thu Ha, Deputy Director of the Provincial Library, shared: To form a reading habit for young people, parents themselves must set an example. Parents should spend time reading books with their children, talking about books, going to book launches or buying books with their children... Children will gradually find a magical world through the pages of books, will expand their knowledge, nurture their souls and perfect their personalities through reading. In the 4.0 era, attracting children to read books is more challenging than before. But let's persevere little by little. Training a habit for children cannot be done just by words but by a real example.

Dao Hang - Minh Quang

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