أَيَّامٌ لِلْمُطَالَعَةِ

فِي الْعُطْلَةِ الْمَدْرَسِيَّةِ الشَّتْوِيَّةِ، كَانَ فِي قَصْرِ الثَّقَافَةِ، فِي الْجَزَائِرِ الْعَاصِمَةِ، نَشَاطٌ لِلْأَطْفَالِ. اسْمُ النَّشَاطِ «أَيَّامٌ لِلْمُطَالَعَةِ»، وَشِعَارُهُ «صَدِيقِي الْكِتَابُ». وَهَدَفُهُ تَقْرِيبُ الْكِتَابِ مِنَ الطِّفْلِ. وَكَانَ لِلْأَطْفَالِ مِنْ ثَلَاثِ سَنَوَاتٍ إِلَى خَمْسَ عَشْرَةَ سَنَةً. فَكَانَ فِيهِ صِغَارٌ مِنْ دُورِ الْحَضَانَةِ، وَتَلَامِيذُ مِنَ الْمَدْرَسَةِ الْمُتَوَسِّطَةِ. كَانَتْ فِي الْقَاعَةِ أَجْنِحَةٌ كَثِيرَةٌ، تَجْمَعُ بَيْنَ الْقِرَاءَةِ وَمُتْعَةِ اللَّعِبِ. فِي جَنَاحِ السِّينِمَا، كَانَ الْأَطْفَالُ يُشَاهِدُونَ أَفْلَامَ الرُّسُومِ الْمُتَحَرِّكَةِ. وَكَانَ هُنَاكَ جَنَاحٌ لِلتَّجَارِبِ الْعِلْمِيَّةِ، وَجَنَاحٌ لِلْفَلَكِ، وَجَنَاحٌ لِلرَّسْمِ وَالتَّلْوِينِ. وَفِي مَكْتَبَةٍ اسْمُهَا «كَانَ يَا مَكَانْ»، كَانَ الْأَطْفَالُ يَقْرَؤُونَ بِصَمْتٍ. وَكَانَ الْأَطْفَالُ يَنْتَقِلُونَ مِنْ جَنَاحٍ إِلَى جَنَاحٍ، كَمَا يُحِبُّونَ. وَفِي جَنَاحِ الْقِرَاءَةِ بِصَوْتٍ عَالٍ، كَانَتِ الْمُرَبِّيَةُ لَيْلَى تَقْرَأُ قِصَصًا مُصَوَّرَةً لِبَعْضِ الْأَطْفَالِ. كَانَ الْأَطْفَالُ يَسْتَمِعُونَ، وَيَنْظُرُونَ إِلَى الصُّوَرِ. وَقَالَتْ لَيْلَى: هُنَا يَلْعَبُ الطِّفْلُ مَعَ أَصْدِقَاءَ، رُبَّمَا يَتَعَرَّفُ عَلَيْهِمْ لِأَوَّلِ مَرَّةٍ. وَكَانَتْ هُنَاكَ مُسَابَقَاتٌ أَيْضًا، لِتَشْجِيعِ الْأَطْفَالِ عَلَى الْمُطَالَعَةِ. وَإِذَا فَازَ طِفْلٌ فِي مُسَابَقَةٍ، كَانَ يَأْخُذُ جَائِزَةً: كِتَابًا يَخْتَارُهُ بِنَفْسِهِ! فَكَانَ يَقِفُ أَمَامَ الْكُتُبِ، وَيَسْأَلُ نَفْسَهُ: أَيَّ كِتَابٍ أَخْتَارُ؟ ثُمَّ كَانَ يَعُودُ إِلَى الْبَيْتِ، وَمَعَهُ كِتَابُهُ الْجَدِيدُ.

In the winter school holiday, there was an event for children at the Palace of Culture, in Algiers. The event was called “Days for Reading”, and its slogan was “My friend, the book”. Its aim was to bring books closer to children. It was for children from three to fifteen years old. So it had little ones from nurseries, and pupils from middle school. The hall had many sections that mixed reading with the fun of play. In the cinema section, children were watching cartoon films. There was a section for science experiments, a section for astronomy, and a section for drawing and colouring. And in a library called “Once upon a time”, children were reading silently. The children moved from section to section, as they liked. In the reading-aloud section, Leila, an educator, was reading picture stories to some children. The children were listening and looking at the pictures. Leila said: here a child plays with friends he may be meeting for the first time. There were competitions too, to enc