![\"Helmet](\"https:\/\/multilingualmonth.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/03\/img1-helmet-kolibrikuva.jpeg?w=1024\")
<\/p>\nWe find ourselves standing in front of the bookshelf of the neighbourhood library, a little frustrated, thinking: why do I find so few children\u2019s books in minority languages like Portuguese here? The answer to this question, which is also valid for other less spoken languages, is that most of the books are stored in the Helmet storage facilities just waiting for our reservation to take them home.<\/p>\n
So, how do we make sure we have access to them and can take them home? That is precisely what we are going to talk about in this article! We will share our experience with Helmet\u2019s collection of children\u2019s literature in Portuguese, a collection of over 400 books. We hope that with this material, we can help other families to find copies in their own languages.<\/p>\n
The most effective way to use the\u00a0Helmet website\u00a0is by using our library user ID, or with our children using their user ID. Certainly, we are already used to the system\u2019s search engine to find something of our interest using the name of an author or work.<\/p>\n
However, with children\u2019s literature, we know from experience that this quest is not easy. We have to familiarise ourselves with it to try and find recommendations for the children\u2019s age level. For example, browsing the Helmet website (in Finnish, Swedish or English) with the keyword \u201cPortuguese children\u2019s literature\u201d or similar terms, yields an incredible result: (0) zero suggestions. How is this possible?<\/p>\n
The search for literature in minority languages is a little more complex. Added to this is the fact that librarians are not always prepared to help families in this immense world of children\u2019s literature, let alone books in Portuguese, or any language other than national or English.<\/p>\n
Even a little more \u201chidden\u201d, minority language collections do exist. Yes, they do exist! In the case of children\u2019s literature in Portuguese at the moment, in February 2021, we found 412 children\u2019s books and 36 young adult books.\u00a0This number varies each month and it is worth checking what is new here (helmet.fi).<\/p>\n
The best way to find what we are looking for is to familiarise ourselves with the Helmet website and find the \u201cadvanced search\u201d option. Just like in a treasure hunt, we need a password! In this case, it is an asterisk (*). Yes, you will see it in the Kolibr\u00edes guidelines in the image below.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Reproduction of the advanced search image. Credit: @inafielbig<\/p>\n
Pay attention to the yellow Kolibr\u00ed!\u00a0In\u00a0Hakusana\/keyword,<\/strong> we will insert\u00a0(*)<\/strong>\u00a0asterisk. And in\u00a0kieli\/language<\/strong>, we will insert\u00a0Portuguese<\/strong>. After that, press \u201cSearch\u201d. We will have then the entire collection of children\u2019s and young adult books available for us to choose from and take home.<\/p>\n Once you click search, many books will appear for you to explore, so we suggest activating the\u00a0Genre<\/strong> box located in the bottom left corner. Selecting this box will help, in a very simple way, to organise a more precise search by categories that refer to the age or interests of future readers. Unfortunately, the genres are only available in Finnish, but we have translated some for you<\/p>\n <\/p>\n With these resources and those that find by using the search engine, we can encourage ourselves to discover new authors and book many books to read as a family. The site also allows you to make a list of favourite books for future readings and request them to arrive at the library nearest your home or work, whichever is most convenient. Certainly, this collection allows us to continue learning new words with our children.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There is certainly a wide variety of children\u2019s books ranging from books for pre-readers, bilingual books, books with pictograms, books for early readers and even for advanced readers, such as novels, classics, translations by renowned authors, fantasy books, adventures, comics, legends and folk-tales and many picture books. In addition, there are books that are not literature, like the first books to chew on and expand vocabulary, for example. There are even several books by well-known literary authors who have taken the time to write for children.<\/p>\n In the case of books in Portuguese, of the 412 young adult and children\u2019s books we found, 118 were translations into Portuguese. For example, Tove Jansson, Astrid Lindgren, Antoine Saint Exup\u00e9ry, Beatrice Alemagna, J. K. Rowling, Hans Christian Andersen, Herg\u00e9, to name but a few. As well as books from the big films and animation companies.<\/p>\n Among the 256 books by authors and illustrators who speak and write Portuguese, we find Yara Kono, Catarina Sobral, Madalena Matoso, Ana Saldanha, Joana Estrela, Ci\u00e7a Fittipaldi, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Lu\u00edsa Ducla Soares, Fernando Pessoa, Rui Lopes, David Machado, Jos\u00e9 Saramago, Jorge Amado, Alice Vieira, Ana Maria Machado, and Rui de Oliveira, among others.<\/p>\n Lukupes\u00e4, \u201creading room\u201d in literal translation or \u201creading nests\u201d is Kulttuurikeskus Ninhos\u2019s new project for the promotion of children\u2019s literature and inclusion of families. The project will offer parents and other stakeholders a programme to support and develop their reading practices in the heritage language. Our Lukupes\u00e4 is made up of a series of training sections and workshops on this beautiful and important topic as early childhood reading. In turn, it will also help communities to take advantage of already existing infrastructure and services in the city (such as libraries and their collections) that sometimes seem not so accessible from the perspective of immigrants.<\/p>\n Another important feature of Lukupes\u00e4 will be guided tours of the children\u2019s book collections in Helmet through short, online sections to be held in the spring and autumn, where we hope to help in the search for children\u2019s books to read at home. The meetings will offer a place with practical information on how best to find good books according to age level and interests.<\/p>\n For more information, we invite you to stay tuned to our social networks, where we will share the events on\u00a0Kolibr\u00ed Festivaali Facebook\u00a0and Instagram: @kolibrifestivaali.<\/p>\n In our case, children\u2019s literature in Spanish and Portuguese from books by Latin American publishers represent a small number in Helmet\u2019s collection compared to copies from Spain or Portugal. We at Kulttuurikeskus Ninho with the support of the Latin American Embassies in Finland, are working to increase the diversity and quantity of books for children and together we have already added over 100 new titles in recent years.<\/p>\n To leave suggestions about any new books, login at this link.<\/p>\n Remember, the more books in Portuguese we take home, the more effort Helmet will put into looking after and growing these collections, let\u2019s increase demand!<\/p>\n Long live this new community of young readers!<\/p>\n Happy searching and happy reading!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n
A glimpse at the books in Portuguese<\/h2>\n
Building reading nests, creating communities<\/h2>\n
![\"Lukupes\u00e4.](\"https:\/\/multilingualmonth.files.wordpress.com\/2021\/03\/img2-lukupesa-ninho.jpeg?w=1024\")
We grow the collection within the community<\/h2>\n
Authors<\/h2>\n