Project encourages reading among young people in a socio-educational regime

“We need to expand our poetics of living in a world that is sinking beneath our feet. We must learn to love as a defense against the pain and violence of the world.” With this written greeting, indigenous leader and writer Ailton Krenak, from the Brazilian Academy of Letters (ABL), addressed, last Thursday (7), around 200 teenagers and 30 teachers from 19 socio-educational units in Paraná , who were waiting for him at the Reading Club (virtual conference) for a conversation about his book A river, a bird, with memories and reflections on the life and formation of the indigenous movement in Brazil.

Krenak was a special guest. This month, it was four years ago that the Londrina II Socioeducation Center (Cense II) started a routine to encourage reading among young people in hospital. Since then, every month, teachers, psychologists, social workers and judges talk to students about books they came into contact with in the classroom.

The conversation is via videoconference. Technology places detention units in a network, and this allows young people to see each other and discuss their readings, and may eventually have contact with the writers themselves.

Since 2020, the Reading Club has welcomed writers such as Itamar Vieira Júnior, author of Torto Arado, winner of the Jabuti and Oceanos awards; rapper Edi Rock, from Racionais MC’s, one of the authors of the book Sobrevivendo no Inferno; journalist Laurentino Gomes, author of three volumes of Escravidão; Father Júlio Lancelotti, who wrote Love in God’s Way; and Ferréz (Reginaldo Ferreira da Silva) author of Capão Pecado, a novel about a teenager who wants to leave the very violent place where he lives and grew up.

On Thursday, Ailton Krenak was unable to participate in the Reading Club due to an emergency and missed the chance to hear directly from the boys, including two indigenous people, and girls (12 in total) what they learned from reading his book . He also did not have the opportunity to know what was discussed in the classroom about pedagogical projects that dealt with the Portuguese and indigenous languages, geography, history, sociology, environment and cultural diversity – all content inspired by the text of the first immortal indigenous person elected to the ABL.

“I learn from the boys”

A regular participant in videoconferences with teenage readers, writers and teachers, judge Ruy Muggiat, from the Paraná Court of Justice, says that, in addition to contact with books and authors, the Reading Club makes it possible to share experiences.

The presence of the judge changes the teenagers’ perspective on the judges, but it also broadens the judge’s view of the students, says Muggiat. “I learn a lot from the boys and the questions they ask.”

Increasing knowledge and professional experience has also provided good opportunities at the Reading Club for Maria Moreira, a literature teacher at socio-education centers in Paraná, who really liked Krenak’s book. “It was the book that both the boys and I identified with the most”, testifies the teacher.

According to Maria, Krenak’s book “dialogues with the way boys see”, and they identified a lot” with what the author addresses, such as dreams. “We are still indigenous, you know? So the boys enjoyed reading”, comments the teacher.

The project is an initiative of social worker Andressa Ferreira Cândido, a public servant in the State of Paraná and assigned to Census II.

In April, the Reading Club is preparing to welcome writer Marina Miyazaki Araujo, who will talk about her book Pai Francisco, about the story of a boy who is far from his father, away from social life. For the following months, Andressa is already dealing with new invitations for authors, who speak to teenagers for free.

While preparing the Reading Club sessions, the social worker dreams about some guests. “I am focused on [ministro dos Direitos Humanos e da Cidadania] Silvio Almeida”, he reveals. For Andressa, the author of Structural Racism would be a great name to talk to teenagers on a date close to Black Awareness Day, November 20th.

According to Andressa, young people want to talk to Drauzio Varella at the Reading Club. “It’s perfect because he worked within a closed unit, right?”, he comments when mentioning the young people’s interest in the book Estação Carandiru, in which the author narrates his experience as a volunteer doctor, starting in 1989, at the São Paulo Detention House.

The right to cultural activities, as well as the right to schooling, is provided for in the Child and Adolescent Statute (1990). The Cense II Reading Club was the winner of the first edition of the Absolute Priority Award, from the National Council of Justice (CNJ), in the Public Power category in 2021.

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