``Ler com a alma`` (``To read with the soul``): the book as a bibliotherapeutic tool (Atena Editora)

Abstract

The “Ler com (c)Alma” (``To read with the soul``) project was developed by the Municipal Library of Baião, reaching different audiences – school community, seniors and the general public – but with common objectives in relation to both: promoting books and reading, creating new readers and consolidating existing reading habits, promoting the municipal library's collection, working on children's self-esteem through children's literature, as well as helping children identify their emotions to better know how to deal with them, recognizing and valuing the therapeutic dimension of the book, as well as providing feelings of inner peace, tranquility and lightness, making the library a space of refuge that allows you to overcome the stress and worries of everyday life, highlighting the role of the library as a space for silence, reading and reflection. This project ended up being, in fact, a set of bibliotherapeutic sessions, during which we were able to understand the impact of the book, its characters and stories on the self-knowledge and management of emotions of the participants, who at the end of the project ended up witnessing that the various sessions contributed to their psychological well-being, emotional expression in mourning and a sense of belonging, among other positive impacts.