International Children's Book Collection
at Eindhoven Library
International Children's Book Collection
Eindhoven Library, The Reading Pier, HLE Network, and various language groups have partnered to create the International Children's Book Collection. Thanks to the contributions of the many participating language groups, there are currently books in Italian, Chinese, French, Romanian, Bulgarian, Persian, Ukrainian, Polish, Korean, and Spanish. English children's books are available at the library thanks to The Reading Pier. Languages that will be added in the next year are Japanese, Turkish, and various Indian languages.
The International Children's Book Collection includes books for children aged 0 to 12. The books can be checked out at no cost since an Eindhoven Library card is free for children aged 0 to 18. Membership is also free for children who reside outside of Eindhoven.
Sign up to our HLE Network mailing list and check this website to stay up to date about the developments.
Menu
Photos
of the International Children's Book Collection
Participating language groups
The International Children's Book Collection would not be possible without the many participating language groups. Many thanks to these groups for their valuable contribution!
English section
The Reading Pier
The Reading Pier Library is a 100% volunteer driven organization started in 2018 with the aim of providing an open-access platform for all children in Eindhoven and surrounding communities to read English books. Every book in the shelves are donated by international families living in Eindhoven, and to date, the library houses 3,000 books for the ages of 0-16 years. To instill the love for reading, The Reading Pier offers free weekly storytelling sessions in English for children. Every Wednesday, two storytellers will be at the library to read stories and do simple craft activities. The morning session (10:30 am) is read to children aged 0-4 years old and the afternoon session (2:00 pm) to children aged 4 years and older. For more information, follow The Reading Pier via Facebook. To donate books and other inquiries, please send an email to thereadingpier@gmail.com.
Italian section
Eindhoven Italian School “La Lampadina”
Eindhoven Italian School “La Lampadina” is committed to creating an engaging and valuable educational experience for children who want to learn about Italian language and culture. We are confident that formal lessons in Italian for children who speak it at home will bring linguistic, cognitive, and emotional benefits to last a lifetime. Our program is backed by Ente Scuola Italiana (ESI), which receives annual contributions from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We also promote free, voluntary reading in the heritage language and have a collection of almost 500 books at the Eindhoven Library, where we read aloud in Italian once per month. For more information, visit www.eindhovenitalianschool.com.
Chinese section
Eindhoven Chinese School HanTang
Eindhoven Chinese School HanTang is a non-profit Saturday school, started in 1978, that currently offers Cantonese, Mandarin, and Taiwanese classes to both Chinese and Dutch children and adults. With more than 30 classes and 600 students, HanTang spans across preschool, primary, middle, and advanced, and adult groups. Their teachers prepare students who are interested in taking the HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) proficiency test. HanTang also offers Chinese history and culture, dance, martial arts and other cultural classes. In 2009 the school was selected by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of China as one of the first overseas "model schools for Chinese education." For more information, contact the director of the school, Mrs. Qinmei Zhang, +31 (0)64 414 3139 or visit http://hantang.eu.
French section
Francofilous
The French language school in Eindhoven, "Francofilous," is a non-profit Saturday school, founded nearly 20 years ago. We want to create a pleasant learning space for children aged 4 to 12 years so that they can express themselves easily in French. Every Saturday morning from 10:30 to 12:30, we offer classes. Children are divided into several groups. Depending on their level and age, various activities are offered. The youngest children have DIY activities, play games, read books and the older ones concentrate on reading and writing. For more information, visit our website: www.francofilous.nl
Romanian section
Romanian School in Eindhoven
The Romanian School in Eindhoven is a non-profit weekend school project, organized by a group of teachers and parents from the area of Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The lessons offer children the possibility to learn the basics of Romanian language, culture and traditions in a pleasant and instructive way. The children work in two age groups and they use books and materials offered by the Department for Romanians Abroad. In addition, the school offers and promotes the children book collection available at the Eindhoven Public Library. For more information, visit https://scoalaromaneasca.eu/
Bulgarian section
„Lezen is Leuk – Четенето е забавно“ by Bulgarian Hub Eindhoven
"Bulgarian Hub Eindhoven" is proud to organize and host a wide range of activities and events that celebrate Bulgarian culture, language, and literature, from interactive workshops and meetings to readings in the Bulgarian language for children at the public library of Eindhoven. Together with bookclub "Четенето е забавно/Lezen is Leuk" we have at the library a collection of around 300 books in Bulgarian for children aged 0 to 12. As an integral part of our mission, we maintain an informative online portal that serves as a valuable resource for both the Bulgarian community and those interested in Bulgarian arts and culture. These initiatives aim to strengthen the connection between Bulgarians living in North Brabant and provide an opportunity for cultural exchange with the local Dutch and international communities. We actively seek partnerships with organizations and initiatives that share our vision of fostering cross-cultural understanding and appreciation.
email: info@bghub-eindhoven.nl
website: www.bghub-eindhoven.nl
Persian section
Two groups worked together to provide Persian books:
PARVAZ, intercultural facilitator, offers storytelling in Persian for kids. In each session, kids can listen to a story in Persian and participate in an interactive storytelling session.b For more information, contact parvaz.cultural.magazine@gmail.com, follow on Instagram @parvaz_cultural, and follow on YouTube www.youtube.com/channel/UC9Y_3W_hvOWxMbqQrnTSbew
The Eindhoven Persian School started in March 2020 with the aim of expanding the vocabulary, teaching Persian reading and writing, and getting acquainted with Persian culture to Persian-speaking children living in the Netherlands. Currently, children in the first to third grades of Persian school are learning the language. In this regard, educational books with the same purpose are provided from one of the best publishers in Europe and provided to the students of the Eindhoven Persian schools. In order to help the international book collection project, an effort has been made to purchase the greatest books published in Iran in recent years for all age groups and make them available to the Eindhoven Library. These books give the opportunity to Persian-speaking children to become better and more familiar with Persian culture and improve their reading skills. To contact the school, please send an email to eindhoven.persian.school@gmail.com, join the app group https://t.me/Eindhoven Farsi School, or call 0623177826.
Polish section
Polish School Eindhoven
Foundation Polish School Eindhoven is a non-profit Saturday school founded in 1988. It provides classes in Polish language and culture with elements of history and geography to children with Polish or mixed language heritage background. Our mission is to help our children become world citizens with the love of Poland and Polish language. We also strive to help parents better understand bilingual language development so that children could be optimally assisted in that process both at home and at school. More information can be obtained at www.eindhoven.polskaszkola.nl or via poolseschooleindhoven@hotmail.com.
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Ukrainian section
Ukrainians in Eindhoven
In response to the tragic events in Ukraine, the Eindhoven Library and the city's Ukrainian community have come together to establish a collection of Ukrainian children's literature. A book can be a cherished piece of home - a friend that speaks the same language. With over 300 books for different age groups and interests, this collection now offers both Ukrainian and Dutch children a window into Ukrainian language, life, and culture. The library is a place where these children can meet and read together, where they can make sense of the world and prepare for a bright future. For younger kids of up to 4 years old we organize storytelling sessions every Thursday at 10:30. If you have any inquiries, or if you would be interested in donating a book, please reach out to the Ukrainians in Eindhoven organization via info@uaie.nl.
Indian section
Indian Center in Netherlands
Coming soon
Korean section
Korean School Eindhoven
The Korean School Eindhoven (KSE) was founded in 2019 to provide Korean language and culture to children with a Korean background. We are registered at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea as a formal Korean language school. KSE aims to provide high-quality education and pays attention to integrated learning, encouraging active participation with practical learning experiences. In 2021, the school also opened its doors to non-Korean speakers eager to learn the Korean language, thanks to the growing interest in K-pop and K-drama. We are happy and proud that the number of students enrolled at KSE is increasing every semester. If you would like to get more information, please visit the following website. www.koreanschool-ehv.nl
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Spanish section
De Carrousel by El Centro Latinoamericano de Orientación (CLO)
“De Carrousel” is an educational project located in Eindhoven and is managed by the CLO (Latin American Orientation Centre, Centro Latinoamericano de Orientación). The ”De Carrousel” project started back in 2006 to support Latin American migrants with their children's bilingual education. It also seeks to strengthen children's right to maintain and develop their parents' native languages.Fontys University and Gerona University (Universidad de Gerona, in Spain) made the “De Carrousel” project possible. The name of the project itself was suggested by interns from the latter university as a reference to the iconic carousel in the Market Square in the centre of Eindhoven. The “De Carrousel” project offers Spanish lessons to children from ages 4 to 11 every Wednesday from 14.00 to 15.00. Its main goal is to teach the Spanish language starting at a young age with a playful and systematic approach. This is achieved by implementing methodology which is then tailored to the child's own level. For more information on the “De Carrousel” project please contact Roxana Aguirre, the project coordinator. Her contact number is +31646135638.
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Japanese section
Japanese Book Club Eindhoven
“Japanese Book Club” is a group of volunteers in the Eindhoven area. The club runs Japanese book reading sessions for children aged 0 - 4 in the Eindhoven Library every third Friday of the month. There are approximately 160 Japanese books in the children’s book collection (as of April/May 2023). Please contact jbceindhoven@gmail.com for more information or if you would also like to be involved.
Turkish section
Stichting Drio
Coming soon
Voorlezen reading activities
at the library
Interested in knowing which reading activities are planned in Eindhoven, Best, and Waalre? Search "voorlezen" in the library's agenda to find activities in different languages.
The different language groups work together during the annual "National Reading Days" in the Netherlands each January and February. Subscribe to our newsletter for updates about the annual event series.
In the press
National Reading Days 2023
Polish child participates in "Thuistaal Toppers!" contest
Celebration with mayor
For participating language groups
Interested in participating?
If you run a heritage language program in Eindhoven and would like to include your language in the International Children's Book Collection at the central library, let us know, and we will explain the agreements and process with you.
Once our team at HLE Network has helped you make an agreement with the library, you can prepare your books for submission. See the video posted here for instructions.
Once your books have been submitted to the library, you can start holding regular events there to help motivate your heritage language school's students to borrow and read the books.
(If you are a language group that does not run a heritage language program, you can still contact us if you are interested, so we can discuss the possibilities.)
Common prentenboeken
Is your language group participating in the children's collection? The library has suggested getting some of the same books across the languages, which could be nice to put on display sometimes in the library. We suggest these 11 books. It is not required that a language group purchase any of these books.