Looking to dip your toe into the ocean of new graphic novels (in translation) for children and young adults? Reading the Eisners is the perfect approach. The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards are the comic kingdom’s equivalent of the Oscars, with the winners announced annually at San Diego Comic Con. Children’s graphic novels in translation appear in the obvious … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The 2023 Eisner Nominees
Zadie Ma wants a dog more than anything in the world, but her mama seems set against it. Will she achieve her heart’s desire? The overarching theme of Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon is simple, yet readers will soon discover that there is so much more to this middle grade novel. … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Weekend: Zadie Ma and the Dog Who Chased the Moon
A book is a promise. Its pages can offer adventure, an escape into a world from another time or place. The first book in The Moonwind Mysteries, The Night Raven, and its sequel, The Queen of Thieves, are gripping upper MG novels that fulfill this promise—and then some. Set in a gritty, Dickensian version of … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Night Raven
Catherine's War There’s certainly no shortage of WWII stories available for younger readers, especially stories focusing on the devastating impact and consequences of the Holocaust. And at first blush, Catherine’s War seems like just another entry to the cannon of middle grade Holocaust fiction. But the graphic novel, adapted by Claire Fauvel from Julia Billet’s … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Catherine’s War
The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera The Last Cuentista is about the power of stories in our lives. When Halley's Comet goes on a collision course for Earth in the year 2061, Petra Peña, a 13-year-old storyteller -- a cuentista -- along with her younger brother and parents (scientists who specialize in botany), and … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: The Last Cuentista
Photo courtesy of the author. About Lian Lian Tanner has worked as a teacher, a tourist bus driver, a juggler, an editor and a professional actor. She has been dynamited while scuba diving and arrested while busking. She once spent a week in the jungles of Papua New Guinea, hunting for a Japanese soldier left … Continue reading #TasmanianLitMonth – Featured Writer Lian Tanner
Chang is a young Vietnamese girl and a wildlife conservationist; Sorya is a bear at the rescue and conservation center where she works. This 120-page middle grade graphic novel is their story. And it’s based on the real-life experiences of author Trang Nguyen, herself a wildlife conservationist, and bears that have been rescued from captivity. … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Saving Sorya: Chang and the Sun Bear
Written in 1940 on the eve of World War II, Emil and Karl is a gripping read. Set in 1938 Vienna, it tells the story of best friends Emil and Karl, both of whom have lost fathers. They quickly lose their mothers as well. Emil is Jewish; Karl is not. One is treated cruelly due … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Emil and Karl
Shortlisted for the 2021 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated YA Book Prize "You're Jadran's guardian angel," Mom had told me when I was only eight..."If your brother's having problems, you have to help him.""Jadran is a giant," I said. "How am I supposed to help him?""You're a giant too," Mom said. "A little giant … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Blue Wings by Jef Aerts
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
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 