End of Pilot

Bibblan's pilot programme ended this month. A big thank you to the families who participated! They've reported an increase in vocabulary, more time spent reading, and increased interest around Swedish culture. While Bibblan seeks funding to cover operation costs and offer the book service for free, there is a monthly subscription option currently available. We use InPost for monthly deliveries. You can have the books delivered to your home address or pick them up at any InPost location. Comment here or email elutz777@gmail.com for more information. Why not see for yourself the benefits of adding Swedish language books to your daily reading routine?

Picture books in other languages

Bibblan's New Books

We've recently added new books to Bibblan's collection! There are many board books (pekböcker) and picture books (bilderböcker) to accommodate beginners in Swedish. Classics like Sagan om det röda äpplet by Jan Lööf as well as new favourites like Mappa och Barni by Erik Wennstam and Julia Hansson are available. A few of the new picture books have episodes on UR's Småsagor programme and can be paired with listening! See below for direct links to each episode. 

A few of Bibblan's new picture books

A few of Bibblan's new picture books

Bibblan's new board books

A few of Bibblan's new factual and poetry books

Småsagor episode for Pojken, pappan och björnen by Per Gustavsson

Småsagor episode for Vem ser dim? by Maria Nilsson Thore

Småsagor episode for Gränsen by Maria Nilsson Thore

Bilderböcker! Spring Theme on Litteraturbanken

If you've ever been interested in reading classic Swedish picture books by authors like Elsa Beskow, Elsa Hammar-Moeschlin, and Ivar Arosenius, hop over to the Litteraturbanken website in the next couple of months! The spring theme is bilderböcker, featuring curated lists and newly added titles from their digital collection of historic Swedish picture books. Many of the books can be downloaded as PDF files for reading offline. 

You can find the Litteraturbanken homepage here: Litteraturbanken

Browse all picture books in the collection from 1807–1952 here: 

Botanisera i biblioteket

Browse Elsa Beskow's books here: Elsa Beskow

Litteraturbanken is a digital library of classic Swedish texts that makes these books available for free online. It is supported by The Swedish Academy. 

From Blomsterfesten i täppan (1914) by Elsa Beskow

From Pelles nya kläder (1923) by Elsa Beskow

From Olles skidfärd (1907) by Elsa Beskow

From Kalle Rasks äpplen (1924) by Elsa Hammar-Moeschlin

From Kattresan (1909) by Ivar Arosenius

From Pelle Snygg och barnen i Snaskeby (1896) by Ottilia Adelborg

Fyra plus Kisse

Have you listened to the new stories by Emma AdBåge on Sveriges Radio? The series is called Fyra plus Kisse and includes five episodes. Paloma, who is ten years old, narrates each story about everyday life in her family. Hear about the back-in-time game, the family's new tradition of visiting the bath house, and Paloma inline skating like the cool girls! Emma AdBåge is the author and illustrator of several picture books, including Gropen, winner of the August Prize in 2018.

Förr i tiden

Trettondan

Badhusafton

Kräksjukan

Märta och Moa

First Books Sent Out!

Books have been going out monthly from Bibblan since December for two families in the pilot programme. Families get to enjoy the books for about 3 weeks and then send them back in the included return envelope. New books arrive each month! 

Monthly deliveries of Swedish books

There are still spots available in the pilot programme, which will continue until July of 2025. Please get in touch if you are interested in signing up!

Augustpriset 2024

The children's book winner for Augustpriset (the August Prize) 2024 is the picture book Chop Chop: En tapper jordbos berättelse, which is both written and illustrated by Linda Bondestam. Augustpriset is awarded annually by the Swedish Publishers' Association in three categories of Swedish literature. Winning authors receive 100,000 kronor. Chop Chop is the story of a strong little robot who is programmed for multiple jobs. It opens up discussions about ways in which artificial intelligence is helpful or harmful and the value our society places on speed. Linda Bondestam's work has been nominated several times for Augustpriset, including for Om du möter en björn and Djur som ingen sett utom vi, which she illustrated, and has also been recognised by several other awards. She is a member of Svenska Barnboksakademin (The Swedish Academy for Children's Books).

Chop Chop, winner of Augustpriset 2024

Other nominees for the prize in 2024 were Barrbarnet by Klara Bartilsson, En djungelsaga by Jenny Bergman and Lotta Geffenblad, Brorsans kompis Robban by Maja Hjertzell and Joanna Hellgren, Utan att passera gå by Lova Lakso, and Ingen utom jag by Sara Lundberg.

Barrbarnet

En djungelsaga

Brorsans kompis Robban

Utan att passera gå

Ingen utom jag

Last year's winner was Vitsippor och pissråttor by Oskar Kroon and Hanna Klinthage.

Vitsippor och pissråttor

The Astrid Lindgren Prize 2024

Astrid Lindgren-priset (The Astrid Lindgren Prize) is awarded to a children's author every year on Astrid Lindgren's birthday in November, sponsored by the publisher Rabén & Sjögren. The author receives 100,000 kronor. In 2024, the prize went to Petter Lidbeck, who has written over 40 books for children. Lidbeck said he writes for kids who struggle with reading, since he himself was not a great reader as a child. He discovered Lindgren's work when he read her stories with his daughter. See past winners of the award here: Astrid Lindgren Prize. Here's a selection of Lidbeck's books. Have you read any?

Kan Man by Petter Lidbeck

Anna Larssons hemliga dagbok, nominated for Augustpriset, 2003

Den magiska kepsen

Världens elakaste fröken

Mördarmormor

Another award in Lindgren's name is the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA), which is administered by the Swedish Arts Council. You can read more about that award here: alma.se.

Barnradions Bokpris 2024

Barnradions bokpris (the children's radio book prize) for 2024 has been announced! The winner is E.P. Uggla for her book Draker och Demoner: Uppvaknandet. It is an adventure story set in the fictional world of the game Dungeons and Dragons. Barnradions bokpris is unique in that the winner is selected by children ages 9–12. The author of the winning book receives 30,000 kronor. The jury of five this year said that this book was well written and has really good descriptions. Other nominees for the prize in 2024 were: Världens sämsta syster by Elin Lindell, Trådar by Emma Andersson, Brinn alla hästar by Helena Hedlund, and Fake by Astrid Mohlin.

Uppvaknandet, winner 2024

Världens sämsta syster, nominee 2024

Trådar, nominee 2024

Brinn alla hästar, nominee 2024

Fake, nominee 2024

You can listen to the book discussions here: Bokpris 2024

Last year's winner was Den yttersta vildmarkens historia: Kuben by Nils Lundkvist.

Kuben, winner 2023

Lässugen on UR Play

 Lässugen is back on UR! It's a show where celebrities read books with a child. This time, reading takes place in an attic with a little boy called Teodor. The series began in 2013 and ran for two years. Each fifteen minute episode features a different picture book. A few of the books featured have been Jag rymmer! by Eva Lindström, Julia vill ha ett djur by Barbro Lindgren and Eva Eriksson, and Storm-Stina by Lena Anderson. All three series are available to watch worldwide on UR Play: Lässugen series 3.

Jag rymmer! from series 1, episode 1

Julia vill ha ett djur, from series 1, episode 5

Storm-Stina, from series 3, episode 5

Seeking Families for a Pilot

Hej igen allihopa,

As noted in the last post, sharing books with children is an excellent way for them to learn new vocabulary, grammar, and so much more! Speech and language therapist Lucy Rowland writes on BookTrust: 'Through stories we share information. We increase our understanding of our world, of ourselves and of others. We can develop our creativity and imagination.' Read her complete article here: The Power of Picture Books. Bibblan's collection specialises in contemporary Swedish language literature for children. Book selection is guided by a child's reading level and interests. If you already take your children to the library regularly to read books in English, why not add a couple of books in Swedish each month? 

A pilot programme of Bibblan service will begin in 2024. We are seeking up to five families willing to participate and give feedback. Each month, you will receive two books through the post and return them via the enclosed mailing envelope at the end of the month. If your family would like to try receiving two books per month in the post, please contact Elizabeth at elutz777@gmail.com for more information.

A few books from Bibblan's collection

Bibblan Swedish Library

Hej allihopa, 

I'd like to introduce a new service coming to the United Kingdom! It's Bibblan, a membership-based lending library of contemporary Swedish literature in the Swedish language with an emphasis on children's books. The service will provide access to these books through the post on a monthly basis. It's aimed at families who are raising children bilingually in the UK. It'll also be available for any Swedish language learners to access books in Swedish. 

Sharing books with children is an excellent way for them to learn new vocabulary, grammar, and so much more! As speech and language therapist Lucy Rowland writes on BookTrust: 'Through stories we share information. We increase our understanding of our world, of ourselves and of others. We can develop our creativity and imagination.' Read her complete article here: The Power of Picture Books. Our collection specialises in contemporary, prize-winning Swedish language literature for children. Selection is guided by the child's reading level and interests.

Data from the last census shows that over 12,000 people currently living in the UK listed Swedish as a main or preferred language. Since it can be expensive to order and ship books from Sweden to the UK, Bibblan Swedish Library is an alternative way to access new reading material in Swedish while saving on the cost of purchasing books. The price of a monthly subscription to Bibblan is about the same as eating out for one meal.

A pilot of the service will start in 2024 in order to test the model with five families. You can read more about the pilot in the next post!