As someone who grew up during the 80s and 90s, I have several memories of the earlier years of the AIDS epidemic. I still remember the news reports of gay men dying in large numbers, and learning about how HIV is spread—and how it is not. I also remember the death of Freddie Mercury (right … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Where We Go From Here
Books for young readers help shape children’s minds, attitudes, and viewpoints. Hence it’s crucial for young readers to have the opportunity to hear diverse voices from around the world. Today’s impressionable, thoughtful young minds need to be aware of important issues and acts of historical or social justice. Graphic Novels Maus: A Survivor’s Tale From … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Fighting the Good Fight: Social Justice in Children’s (Translated) Books and Graphic Novels
Books can transport us across time and space, even though the journey is only an imaginary one. The literary voyages readers take within the pages of a book can inspire us and affect how we see the world via the magic of the written word. Writers, indeed, have immense power. But what if that literary … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Forgotten Book
Much of the rhetoric around immigration from Central America across the southern United States border discusses persons wanting to enter the U.S. in abstract and dehumanizing terms: as caravans, illegal aliens, vectors of disease, even as an invasion. We spend so much time talking about Central American refugees and what they represent, yet we rarely … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Other Side
What if the world actually ended with a bang and not with a whimper? (Pace, T.S. Eliot.) And what if you knew the end was coming? How would you spend your final days? That’s the premise in The End, an award-winning upper YA novel by Swedish author Mats Strandberg. When the story begins, scientists have … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The End
I cannot believe we have arrived at the end of the first ever International Young Adult Month! It’s been truly an honor to be the first guest editor of #IntlYALitMonth by the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative. It’s been an eye-opening experience for me as I have learned so much about international translated Young Adult Literature … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: That’s a wrap!
Abigail by Magda Szabó, translated from the Hungarian by Len Dix Who doesn't love a boarding school novel? Especially one written by an author who actually experienced life within a similar one for herself? Hungarians love this book so much, they voted it their third most-beloved novel during the Hungarian Big Read of 2005. So … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Abigail
On April 14, 2021, 2020 GLLI #TranslatedYA Book Prize Chair Annette Y. Goldsmith and 2021 Prize Chair David Jacobson hosted an online presentation as part of the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi. The presentation included video reviews of select titles by committee members, as well as long-form interviews with the … Continue reading IntlYALitMonth: Who can resist authors enthusiastic about their GLLI Translated YA Book Prizes?
Here The Whole Time and Where We Go From Here are two queer YA novels in translation from Brazilian Portuguese published by Scholastic this year. In a Brazilian LGBT sweep, both titles won the #2021GLLITranslatedYALitBookPrize this week. Translator and World Kid Lit co-founder Lawrence Schimel spoke to their translator Larissa Helena about the books last September. Indeed, Lawrence … Continue reading Translator Larissa Helena in conversation with Lawrence Schimel
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oKaE-_nKbc Sharing the joy! Here's a recording of our Global Literature in Libraries Initiative announcement on #InternationalChildrensBookDay of our third year of #GLLITranslatedYALitBookPrizeWinners, done in celebration with Rutgers Library. Rutgers is creating an International Youth Collection of titles, including all of our GLLI award winners. Already the Rutgers IYCLibGuide on International Youth Literature is a … Continue reading Celebrating the 2021 GLLI Translated Young Adult Literature Book Prize Winners, Honor Books, & Shortlist Titles
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 