In the very center of the city, in Šenoina Street in Sarajevo, there is a small door that leads you to the world of fairy tales.
For two years, Bajkologija, a children’s bookstore, has been located at this address, which contains numerous picture books intended for children, which unfortunately we have forgotten in the 21st century. New technologies, phones, computers, games, social networks… everything has become more interesting than fairy tales, so before going to bed children are mostly given a phone, and picture books have fallen into oblivion.
But Anela Hakalović, the owner of Bajkologija, is bringing picture books back into fashion. Bajkologija was first a blog where Anela wrote about picture books and reading them to children at an early age. After that, she came up with the idea of opening the first specialized bookstore in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which began operating in September 2022. Then Bajkologija took a new step, which is publishing. They published their first picture book at the end of last year.
“It cannot be said that Bajkologija is only a bookstore, that it is only a publishing house, we really do a lot of things. Somehow, our first idea is to raise awareness about why it is important to read to children, why reading is one of the key things we can do for our children. Also to give them access to books and to understand that this is an important factor not only in their later education, but also in the development of critical thinking, media literacy and any form of understanding of the world”, Anela, the owner of Bykology, tells us.
He explains that the place where the picture book is sold is also important. It is different when a child sees a picture book in a toy supermarket or at a newsstand. Picture books, like all other books, deserve to be sold in places that are intended for that, because bookstores are places of culture, not stores.
“With the idea that we have to build an audience, given how few good picture books there are and how little parents’ awareness of why reading is important, we have to work to increase it. In other developed countries it is completely different, you have an involved state, you have an involved system that, for example, in some countries, at the first visit to the pediatrician, parents are given a brochure about the importance of reading for speech development. Kindergartens and schools insist that reading is important. We don’t have that here, it’s all sporadic. We decided that Bajkology should be a strong voice about the fact that reading is very important for children”, points out Anela, who says that she wouldn’t have succeeded if she didn’t have the support of her family.
“Most businesses in Bosnia and Herzegovina are small, family businesses, and it is very difficult to do anything without their support, especially in the form of understanding,” points out Anela Hakalević.
At Bajkolologija you can buy picture books from local publishers, from Bosnia and Herzegovina but also from the region. Anela states that Bajkologija has published four of its books so far, and they deal with some big topics. The first, which was published at the end of 2023, is called “Magic Eye”. It is a story about a girl who flees the war with her family. Anela briefly told us why that particular topic.
“It’s a big topic, the topic of refugees, migration and the like, but we thought it was something that children could understand and the picture book was really made so that nothing was explicitly said about what it was about. You have themes of war, but nowhere is it said that it is war. We really felt that children have the capacity to understand some big topics, that we should not run away from it”.
The second picture book published by Bajkologija is called “Pine” and it is also unusual and can be read with equal attention by children and adults. Bykology did not want to publish commercial type picture books that are chosen because they are cute and colorful, but they wanted them to be books that would bring some value to children.
“The Moon and the Heavenly Dragon” is the third picture book published by Bajkologia. It’s about a little girl who likes to look at the stars and who is a little scientist, and behind the colorful picture books there is a theme that concerns the relationship between mythical and scientific thinking.
The last picture book “Friends forever” is for a slightly younger age, Anela explains.
“It also deals with one of the great themes of childhood – friendship. It talks about the friendship of an owl and a rabbit who are in the same oak, tree, but cannot meet. It does not deal with such big topics, but it is adapted to younger children, from three to four years old,” says Anela.
The picture book “Our Story” offered in this bookstore is special, perhaps because of its subject matter. It’s about a foster family and it’s actually meant for all of us to understand that there are different families. This picture book also confirms why Bajkologija differs from other bookstores, precisely because of those big topics that are intended for children.
Bajkologija is not just a bookstore or a publishing house, it has its own social engagement that includes several projects, and Anela explained to us what it is all about.
“We worked on a project in cooperation with UNHCR where we used the picture book Magic Eye to conduct 12 workshops in schools across Bosnia and Herzegovina, where we talked about this topic with children of different ages. It was very important for us to go to some cities that have less access to books, libraries, and to bring them these books. We are currently working on a project in cooperation with Uniceredit Bank, which recognized the importance of this idea, where we are doing a cycle of workshops for children in homes without parental care. We also had a workshop at the Home in Bjelave and we think it is important to somehow reach different institutions and organizations.”
At the beginning, we mentioned that today children fall asleep much more often with a phone than with a picture book, and this is a big burden of this society. Anela believes that parents must be persistent in their struggle to show children how important reading is.
“It’s somehow difficult for us adults to be less present on social networks, and you can imagine how difficult it is for a child who has less self-control, who does not yet have the ability to self-regulate, and how difficult it is for that child to choose a book between a cell phone and a book. We cannot shift that responsibility to the children. I think that it is more difficult for today’s parents than it was for the parents of previous generations and that it is more difficult for today’s children than it was for us because there are more distractions. The entertainment that a child gets through the phone is much more attractive than what a picture book can provide,” Anela Hakalović believes.
Although Bajkologija has existed for two years, Anela often says that they are at the beginning because it is very difficult to reach a wider audience. Parents are generally interested as well as children, and that is the most important thing. The best indicator of success is when parents and children come back for picture books satisfied with their previous selection.
Finally, we asked Anela what her message is, primarily to parents, who may not have been to Bykology yet.
“First of all, I would invite the parents to visit us. And I think that book prices here and in other bookstores are often lower than the average price of a toy. The prices of toys are quite high today, and these toys are still sold. I would suggest that they give books to other children, be that parent whose child brings a book as a gift, and choose a book over a toy. The holidays are coming, let them give their children books instead of toys, I think that a book is a gift that can be opened again and again and that they will spend much longer with a book than with a toy”.
Written by: Maja Popović
This story was made possible through the generous support of the American people through the Local Works program of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The author and the Peacebuilding Network are solely responsible for the content of this story. The views expressed in this story do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.
