Welcome to the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative (GLLI) Focus on Japan month! We are author Holly Thompson and Japanese-to-English translator Avery Fischer Udagawa. In tandem with #WorldKidLitMonth, for the month of September, we’ll be sharing posts highlighting favorite Japan books for young people in English translation. 

We’ll open with board books for the very young, slide into picture books, move up to middle grade titles, shift to must-read manga, sidle over to favorite young adult books, and land with dynamic books that appeal to various age groups. Get ready for posts about cute animals, whimsical worlds, rainy days, social issues, surreal situations, fantasy realms, yokai, war’s lasting impacts, summer adventures, social pressures, cozy shops, unexpected friendships, and more. 

Japan is a book country with a high percentage of readers and a vibrant publishing universe, which made selecting books for this GLLI Focus on Japan Month challenging! There are so many outstanding books published in Japan, and, gradually, thankfully, we’re seeing more Japanese books for young people available in translation. 

Nearly all of these GLLI Focus on Japan 2026 posts are written by individuals who themselves translate books from Japanese into English. In addition to reading the posts, be sure to check out the authors of these posts–they may just lead you to twice as many JapanLit books you’ll wish to request from your library. 

We hope you delight in this month-long immersion into Japanese literature for young people. 

Holly Thompson and Avery Fischer Udagawa

Holly Thompson is the author of the picture books Listening to Trees: George Nakashima, Woodworker; The Wakame Gatherers; and more; verse novels Falling into the Dragon’s Mouth, The Language Inside and Orchards; and the novel Ash, and editor of Tomo: Friendship Through Fiction: An Anthology of Japan Teen Stories. A longtime resident of Japan now based in Massachusetts, she writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction for children, teens and adults, and teaches creative writing in Japan, the U.S., and places in between.

Avery Fischer Udagawa’s translations from Japanese include the picture book Two Little Red Mittens by Kirin Hayashi and Chiaki Okada, the historical middle grade novel J-Boys: Kazuo’s World, Tokyo, 1965, and middle grade fantasy novels by Sachiko Kashiwaba including Temple Alley Summer, The House of the Lost on the Cape, and The Village Beyond the Mist. Originally from Kansas, Avery works in international education north of Bangkok.