What if the thing you most yearned to do was an innate ability? And you weren’t one of the lucky ones born with it? That’s the set up for Witch Hat Atelier, a wonderful YA coming-of-age manga series by Kamome Shirahama, translated by Stephen Kohler, the first volume of which just won an Eisner Award for the … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Witch Hat Atelier, v. 1
“High above the forest lives the wolf. An icy cry. Crazy eyes. We know to move our butts when the wolf comes down to eat.” What a start for a children’s book! And this one is excellent, a sly, societal commentary cleverly disguised as a book for children. In this hybrid picture book/graphic novel for … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: The Wolf in Underpants
Make way for Kiki! A beloved children’s classic in Japan ever since it was originally published in 1985, Kiki’s Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono has been out of print in English translation for over a decade, despite its continuing fame via Hayao Miyazaki’s animated adaptation. And adaptation it is: there are significant differences between the book and the movie. … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Kiki’s Delivery Service
What's an underground community to do when a perniciously invasive root snakes its way through everyone's routes and roofs? That's the setup for award-winning author-illustrator Marianne Dubuc's latest, a whimsical picture book for ages 3-7, And Then the Seed Grew. Filled with fun details--a blue piano in the corner of one room, a yellow rubber … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: And Then the Seed Grew
Have you ever lost yourself in a book? That’s the conceit behind this whimsically clever novelty book for ages 4-8 written by Julien Baer, illustrated by Simon Bailly, and translated by Elizabeth Law. A mini-Matryoshka doll in picture book format, the story follows Thomas, who wanders off at the beach when his parents take a post-lunch … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: The Book in the Book in the Book
Very few people have heard of Francesco Tirelli, one of the multitude of unsung heroes and heroines of World War II. Nor have they heard about how this Italian gelato aficionado emigrated to Hungary, opened a successful ice cream parlor in the middle of Budapest, and, years later, quietly saved many of his Jewish friends … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Francesco Tirelli's Ice Cream Shop
My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder is a charming, whimsical graphic novel for readers ages 7-11. Illustrated with beautiful watercolors, the book consists of four heartwarming tales about a young disabled girl named Yu’er and her beloved, quirky grandfather by renowned Chinese author-illustrator, Nie Jun. My Beijing introduces English readers to Nie’s East-meets-West art and … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: My Beijing: Four Stories of Everyday Wonder
I’ve always had a soft spot for mice. Not the computer kind, nor the kind that were supposed to make Victorian women shriek and fall into a dead faint. (Probably because their corsets were too tight….but I digress.) No, the cute, cotton, and cuddly kind. So I fell hard for Torben Kuhlmann’s imaginative historical fiction … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Three picture books by Torben Kuhlmann: “Lindbergh,” “Armstrong” and “Edison”
What if Death liked his coffee "black and strong?" And left his scythe outside the door, so as not to scare the young ones? That's who Death is in Cry, Heart, But Never Break, originally written in Danish by award-winning children's author Glenn Ringtved, with wistful, pencil-and-watercolor illustrations by Charlotte Pardi. In this gentle, moving … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Cry, Heart, But Never Break
What's a young, hungry but well-mannered young wolf to do when given a last wish by his freshly-captured future meal? Grant it...of course, just as his parents taught him to do! In this wickedly sly picture book for ages 4-8 by Jean Leroy, our polite wolf on the hunt for his first prey encounters a … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: A Well-Mannered Young Wolf
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 