Swiss youth publications
The Schweizerische Jugendschriftenwerk (SJW) ( French Œuvre Suisse des Lectures pour la Jeunesse OSL, Italian Edizioni Svizzere per la Gioventù ESG, Romansh Ovra Svizra da Lectura per la Giuventetgna OSL ) sells inexpensive, youth-friendly literature in the four national languages to support sustainable reading promotion in the schools.
history
The SJW was founded in Olten on July 1, 1931 by representatives of various institutions in order to counter what was known as “ trash literature ”, which at that time was mainly offered in the Zurich districts of Niederdorf and “ Kreis Cheib ”. To a certain extent, it was the successor to the Swiss youth publications published by the Zurich Youth Welfare Office since 1922 . The initial capital was donated by the Swiss Writers 'Association and the Swiss Teachers' Association also made an interest-free loan available.
The first SJW booklets came out in 1932 for 25 cents: Fridtjof Nansen by Fritz Wartenweiler , How Edison was invented by Ernst Eschmann, Nur der Ruedi by Elisabeth Müller and booklets by Olga Meyer , Traugott Vogel and Alfred Fankhauser .
The SJW has been a foundation since 1957 . The SJW is well known among the Swiss population. Many well-known Swiss writers are represented with one or more SJW issues. The original illustrations of the SJW booklets have been kept in the graphic collection of the Zurich Central Library since 1932.
Over 2,600 titles had been published by 2019. Over 50 million SJW booklets have been sold since 1932.
Publishing policy
The purpose of the SJW is to promote the desire to read, to encourage students to read books, to stimulate imagination and creativity and to impart a wide range of knowledge. At the same time, it offers a forum for Swiss authors and illustrators to make their works accessible to young people.
The publishing program is geared towards the different school levels according to age. The focus is on first- reading texts for reading aloud, storytelling or self-reading, texts for the intermediate level with non-fiction books on various topics, but also crime fiction, witch and ghost stories and non-fiction books for the upper school on current topics. Since 2001 the SJW has been running the intercultural offer “simultaneous reading and understanding”, which consists of three SJW booklets and a CD-ROM with translations. This means that language communication will be expanded from the previous four national languages to English and the most important migration languages. The combination of the booklet and printable translations provides the teacher with a cross-lingual, interculturally applicable teaching aid. The central concern of the SJW remains its bridging function between the four national languages. The SJW has been publishing French books since 1934, and Italian and Romansh books since 1939. The fourth national language is represented by booklets in the written language Rumantsch Grischun and the idioms Vallader , Putér , Surmiran , Sursilvan and Sutsilvan .
The Swiss Library for the Blind, Visually Impaired and Reading Handicapped Transmits SJW booklets in Braille . Particularly popular booklets appear in Braille at the same time as the original booklet. Large print SJW booklets are available on request for visually impaired children. All booklets can be borrowed or bought free of charge from the library for the blind.
The cooperation of the SJW with the internet portal schultraining is intended to open up new possibilities for the students. With the help of online reading comprehension exercises for booklets from SJW Verlag, they should be able to check whether they have understood the stories they have read.
Financing and sales organization
The SJW is a non-profit foundation and is not profit-oriented. In order to give the students access to high quality literature in all national languages and all social classes, the prices are deliberately kept low. This is also made possible through contributions from the public sector and private sponsors. The traditional distribution concept is mainly based on the voluntary work of committed teachers. In the 1960s over 5000 volunteers took part. SJW books can also be bought in bookshops. The deficiencies in reading skills identified by the PISA study have given reading promotion a new boost. The sales figures of the SJW publishing program have increased since 2007 and have received a very good response. Around 170,000 issues are sold annually (as of 2017).
Well-known SJW authors and illustrators
Well-known SJW booklets
- Only Elisabeth Müller's Ruedi (Issue No. 7)
- The five chunks of Anna Keller (Issue No. 15), over 200,000 issues sold
- The Pfahlbauer am Moossee by Hans Zulliger (issue No. 18), over 600,000 books sold
- The black Tanner by Meinrad Inglin (issue No. 1308)
literature
- Fritz Brunner : The survey on the dissemination of trash literature in schools in the city of Zurich. In: Swiss Journal for Charity. 68: 424-439 (1929).
- Charles Linsmayer : “A spiritual riot for young Swiss people”. 75 years of SJW Swiss Youth Writings. SJW, Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-7269-0528-6 .
- Pirmin Meier : "An unheroic time: The First World War in the notebooks of the Schweizer Jugendschriftenwerk (SJW)" . In: The forgotten war. Traces and traditions of Switzerland in the First World War edited by KJ Kuhn and B. Ziegler. Hier + Jetzt, publisher for culture and history, Baden 2014, ISBN 978-3-03919-316-5 .
- Fritz Franz Vogel : "SJW booklet. A good piece of Swiss illustration history." Publishing house with an arrow in its eye, Wädenswil 2008, 2nd exp. Edition: Diessenhofen 2015, ISBN 3-909198-13-9 .
Web links
- Literature by and about the Swiss Foundation for Youth Writings in the catalog of the German National Library
- Lucien Criblez: Schweizerisches Jugendschriftenwerk (SJW). In: Historical Lexicon of Switzerland .
- Website of the Swiss youth publications
- A child of early intellectual national defense , Neue Zürcher Zeitung , May 29, 2006
Individual evidence
- ^ Founding minutes of the SJW (PDF) . Retrieved December 13, 2014.
- ↑ SJW: SJW-Hefte 1932 to 2019 , accessed on December 29, 2019