How do you feel about the presence of pigeons at your local park? Do you like how they fearlessly bob around your legs in search of food? Do you enjoy seeing them flock to a single spot to eat their crumbs? Or do you just try to stay out of their way like I do? … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Hugo
Many of us are familiar with the tropes of Western fairy tales; somewhere in a far off place, there is a damsel in distress, a brave hero, and maybe a fantastical creature to boot. Something untoward then occurs, necessitating a rescue of some sort. There is maybe even some magic, or at least a supernatural … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Stone Giant
Mpumi is a young, fun-loving, warm-hearted South African girl who lives in Johannesburg. In these two delightful picture books, aimed at children ages 5-10, we discover more about her, her city and her friends. Both titles are available in all of South Africa's 11 languages; Mpumi and Jabu's Magical Day is also available in French. … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mpumi’s Magic Beads and Mpumi and Jabu’s Magical Day
It is one of those questions that you often get as a child: do you already know what you want to be when you grow up? Fortunately, you don't have to choose a study or profession until the end of secondary school. Until then, you can fantasize about many professions, for example by reading books about them.-- … Continue reading #WorldKidLitMonth & #DutchKidLit Wrap-Up – Children’s Book Week 2021 “Be what you want to be!”
Today's post is a virtual field trip to the Children's Book Museum in The Hague, just a short bicycle ride from my house. This is my second trip to the museum to research #DutchKidLit for this month of posts, with the goal of learning more about the connections between early childhood Dutch books and the … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Virtual Field Trip to the “I Am Frog” and “ABC with the Animals and Me” Exhibits at the Children’s Book Museum
Mylo Freeman’s 2021 picture book adaptation of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s essay We Should All Be Feminists is currently only available in its Dutch edition in translation by Hi-en Montijn, We Moeten Allemaal Feminist Zijn. This is a picture book introduction to feminism for children ages 8 and up, and full of Freeman’s characteristically bright, bold figures … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Translate This! We Moeten Allemaal Feminist Zijn by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, adapted and illustrated by Mylo Freeman
When speaking to international school librarians at the ECIS Libraries Week in 2021, author-illustrator Mylo Freeman shared the story that inspired her first Princess Arabella book. Freeman had heard from a friend who worked with a children’s theater group about a little girl who was offered the role of a princess and turned it down. … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Princess Arabella Series by Mylo Freeman
In two days, South Africa will observe Heritage Day, an annual reminder of the diversity of our people beyond our 11 official languages and ethnic groups. On this public holiday, people are encouraged to take pride in their roots and celebrate their ethnocultural heritage. In Wanda, a picture book for ages 4-8 by Sihle Nontshokweni … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Wanda
Post by guest author Nathalie Morrissey from the International School of Amsterdam.When Mylo Freeman’s father was an 8-year-old boy living in America, his school held a drawing competition sponsored by Disney. Although his drawing was selected as the winning piece, as soon as the Disney representative came to the school and discovered the favored artist … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Zaza Series by Mylo Freeman
Sam and Julia are two little grey mice who are best friends, much like Jip and Janneke of the famous Annie M.G. Schmidt stories, and they live in separate apartments in a glorious jumble of floors and rooms in a mouse mansion community with stairs running up and down, and chambers full of intricate, hand-made … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – The Mouse Mansion – Sam and Julia by Karina Schaapman
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 