Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

The project to give voice to children's emotions through reading will start tomorrow, International Day for the Rights of Children and Adolescents

Milan, November 19 2020 – On the occasion of the International Day for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, which is celebrated on 20 November, the project “The book as a cure” starts, conceived by the De Agostini Foundation and promoted, in collaboration with the Department of Education of the Municipality of Milan, in the 104 municipal nursery schools of the city.

Through the reading of illustrated books by the educators of the nursery schools of the Municipality of Milan, the project aims to give voice to the emotions of the children with particular attention to the themes that have emerged in this particular year characterized by the experience of COVID-19 (fear, loneliness, unexpected events, detachment), with the aim of activating a process of healing the emotional wounds of the little ones.

The project will continue until March 2021 with the donation by the De Agostini Foundation of illustrated books, which will be available to children and educators.

To celebrate the International Day for the Rights of Children and Adolescents, in municipal nurseries, children will be offered the reading of the book Cane nero (by Levi Pinfold, Terre di mezzo) and, immediately afterwards, a workshop entitled "I I'm not afraid of fear", with the aim of listening to what worries them, talking about their fears and not making them feel alone.

At the same time, it is fundamental, in this particular moment, to support nursery workers in their daily work with children, in which they deal with their complex emotions by welcoming them and helping the children to process them. For this reason, the initiative will see the involvement of approximately 5.000 children and their parents as well as educators from Milan's municipal nursery schools.

The training course will be conducted by Claudia Maspero, developmental psychotherapist specialized in the training of professionals in the maternal and child area: it includes four monthly meetings with educators, so that through reading the selected illustrated books they can deal with educational services the themes that the Coronavirus has brought to light, and four webinars dedicated specifically to parents and families.

For the selection and donation of the books that will accompany the educators' training course and which will then be read to the children, the De Agostini Foundation has involved some independent bookstores in Milan specialized in children's books: Linea d'ombra (via San Calocero 29) , Isola libri (via Antonio Pollaiuolo 5) and Aribac (via Porpora 61).

“Girls and boys have, more than anyone else, suffered the consequences of the health emergency due to the spread of the Coronavirus: the schools, the places they frequent like a second home, were the first to close, leaving them without their references and of their relationships - declares Laura Galimberti, Councilor for Education and Instruction of the Municipality of Milan -. This project aims to restore the attention that was stolen from them during the months of the lockdown and is part of the composite set of initiatives dedicated to reading that the Municipality carries out and which includes, among other things, the action of 185 reading ambassadors who , in a network with libraries, bookstores and family counseling centers, carry out an awareness-raising action on the important role of reading. We therefore thank the De Agostini Foundation which will help us strengthen this network by focusing on a specific focus that is very significant for the period we are experiencing, the one linked to the fears and emotions that the pandemic brings with it".

“The 'Book as a cure' project - states Marcella Drago, General Secretary of the De Agostini Foundation - was born from the Foundation's desire to support the youngest children, who more than others are emotionally affected by the dramatic moment in which we find ourselves. Starting from the book, we want to give voice to children's thoughts, take care of their emotions. And also take care of those who look after children every day, that is, the educators of the services. I sincerely thank councilor Laura Galimberti for having enthusiastically welcomed the project and for having supported the De Agostini Foundation in the concrete implementation of the intervention in the Milan area".

De Agostini Foundation – The book as cure