OJI, Nara-- Children reading picture books aloud to dogs, affectionately referred to as "wandoku," is becoming all the rage at libraries and other places in Nara Prefecture.
Wandoku is a Japanese word coined through combination of wan or a dog's bark and doku or reading. Doku is also a play on words for dog.
The campaign's aim is to help children who are shy about reading aloud in front of others or have become afraid of reading aloud after having their mistakes while reading pointed out, build self-confidence and come to like reading.
Nine children, their ages ranging from 4 to 10, gathered with books in their hands at Yawaragi Hall in the town of Oji, Nara Prefecture, on Oct. 20 last year to attend the wandoku event organized by the municipal library. The "audience" was three Labrador retrievers.
The children entered a booth with the dogs and their owners and crouched down to greet the dogs while petting them and rubbing their bellies, before opening the books of their choice. After getting into a comfortable position, the children began to read aloud as the dogs lay beside them.
Kanon Kobayashi, 10, a fourth grader at the Oji Elementary School, said, "Although I'm shy about reading aloud in front of people, I felt at ease while I was reading because the dogs were friendly and stayed still."
The first wandoku event in the prefecture was held in 2013 during a picture book event held in Nara City.
The event came about when its executive committee chairman Katsuyuki Hayashi, 66, an employee at a library in Nara City at the time and the current curator of the Heguri town library in the prefecture, was approached by the animal park in the city of Uda, because they wanted to "hold an event that would provide participants with an opportunity to interact with animals and have them think more about the importance of all life."
Hayashi recommended the Reading Education Assistance Dogs (R.E.A.D.), a U.S. program that uses therapy dogs, as he remembered a book about the program he had read a few years earlier.
The R.E.A.D. program was founded by a nurse in the United States for children who struggled with reading. Children who continued to read books aloud to dogs came to like reading and their scholastic achievements improved, according to the book.
The two-day event in Nara City was a great success, attracting 40 to 50 children each day who formed lines in front of five dogs.
Hayashi did not want the event to end as a one-off. To ascertain the effect of continuing the event, Hayashi asked nine children to read aloud as a once-a-week activity over a period of three weeks at the Heguri library.
A 10-member team including a clinical psychotherapist and a veterinarian conducted questionnaires and interviews of both the children and their parents and guardians before and after the activity about whether they noticed any changes.
Many parents and guardians responded that their children gradually became more relaxed and enjoyed themselves the more they participated in the activity. He said he had confidence that the event would prove to be beneficial.
In a bid to expand the event, Hayashi named the activity "wandoku." In addition to consistently holding wandoku at the Heguri library, Hayashi provided advice for officials of other libraries who showed interest in the event.
As a result, wandoku events came to be held in various parts of the prefecture. Similar efforts also can be seen in municipalities of other prefectures, including Mitaka in Tokyo, Nagareyama in Chiba Prefecture and Takaishi in Osaka Prefecture.
"I want to build a library where dogs are allowed," Hayashi said. He aims to create a library where children are able to read to dogs at any time in a calm and peaceful environment.
He expressed his determination, saying, "Through their experience with the dogs, I want to create a bridge between children and books."
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