Anna-Clara Tidholm

“Ingen får åka med” (Nobody can
Ride Along). But joking apart, “Everyone
Can Ride Along” has actually
been sold to several countries,
she tells, pleased with the thought
that children get access to her and
other’s infant books. She has been
out touring and talking about this
issue in pre-schools, BVC (children
care centrals) and libraries. She
wishes that the persons working on
BVCs and at libraries as well as the
parents should get more knowledge
about infant books, their meaning
and offers.
– When it comes to teaching in
children’s literature at the institutes
of education, it seems that it more
often takes its startingpoint in
the literature than in the children
themselves. The pre-school teachers
should learn more about which
books are suitable for different ages.
Projects about infant books must
start from the childrens own basic
level.
Anna-Clara was, as she describes it
herself, a hysterically reading child
and is very precise with separating
different sorts of reading. Her own
she calls lonely-reading.
– I used the stories of the books
as escape and fantasy. That is not
something I will recommend to
others, she says.
The other way of reading you
could call together-reading. That’s
what small children do, and they
should get the chance to do it much
more.
– To infants reading is a very
social thing. Children are very open
for interaction and books give them
possibilities for that. Many times it’s
the person who reads, who is interesting,
more than the book itself.
– A good book functions both
with adults and children. The reading
is a superior manner for children
and adults to have fun together.
Helen Lumholdt
in the magazine Förskolan
(The Pre-school) nr. 8/ 2005
Translated by Sven Hallonsten
29