Today’s post comes to you from Alice Henry 'Under the London Sky' by Anna Woltz (2021), translated from Dutch by Michelle Hutchinson (2025), is a coming-of-age story for four teenagers during the Blitz, a context with profound impact on our narrator, Ella, and her friends. Fourteen-year-old Ella, born and bred in the East End into … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Under the London Sky
Today’s post comes to you from Emma Page On April 23rd, the University of Reading Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing (CBCP) in partnership with Outside In World (OIW) will present a webinar dedicated to Arabic YA in English translation, as part of their webinar series ‘Explorations in Translation for Children’. Despite a huge, diverse base … Continue reading Webinar 23 April 2026: Arabic Young Adult Literature in Translation
Twelve-year-old Tuva has always felt different from her classmates. In the past, they’ve bullied her. Now, “at best, they ignore” her. But until people from Tuva's Stockholm archipelago go missing--even a classmate--she has no idea why she doesn't fit in nor how different she really is. Accompanied by new kid Rasmus, who befriends her, Tuva … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Secrets Below
What do a vampire, a slime mold, a skeleton, a mad scientist and a mummy have in common? They’re all students at Monstrocity School. And they’re also all close friends of young werewolf Olivia Wolf, the protagonist in the zany Olivia Wolf graphic novels for readers age 7-10. In Olivia Wolf and the Trip Through Time, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Olivia Wolf and the Trip Through Time
Budding volcanologists rejoice! Young scientists roll up your sleeves! As for the rest of the world, get ready to rock! Mountain of Fire: Into the Heart of Volcanoes is a fascinating nonfiction book about volcanoes for middle grade readers. And perhaps it may even inspire a few young readers to turn an early volcanic passion … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mountain of Fire: Into the Heart of Volcanoes
High schooler Jip has a big problem—an art class assignment to draw a self-portrait. That shouldn’t be a problem, as Jip is a talented artist who can draw bugs, shells, and other items in exquisite detail. Jip is also obsessed with biology in general and insects in particular, spending days (and nights) in an overgrown … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Self-Portrait
In the deep, dark, frigid days of winter, what could be more fun than curling up in a blanket with a shivery ghost story? Set during summer vacation, The Ghosts of Pandora Pickwick is a wonderful combination of two evergreen middle grade tropes: the aforementioned ghost tale and an adoption/origin story. Protagonist Mia Jones has … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Ghosts of Pandora Pickwick
What’s faster than a jet? Or bigger than a whale? And have you ever wondered how many vertebrae are in a giraffe’s neck? These and myriad other fascinating questions are the focus of Faster Than a Jet, Bigger Than a Whale: An Illustrated Guide to Measuring Our World, a wonderful nonfiction book for readers age … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Faster Than a Jet, Bigger Than a Whale: An Illustrated Guide to Measuring Our World
Okchundang Candy 옥춘당 by Jung-soon Go 고정순Translated from Korean by Aerin ParkLevine Querido, March 2025 “I still remember that house filled with summer lingering.” As the story opens, the narrator leads us back into the summers she spent with her grandparents, Mr. Go Jadong and Ms. Kim Soonim. Words rendered in crayon carry a handlettered … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Okchundang Candy
Take a cooking competition in graphic novel format and mix in zany illustrations, alien species and an intergalactic empire. Blend in a reluctant, kindhearted female heroine, top it all off with eco-, exoplanetary, and class politics, and you get The Big Tournament, the first book in the fabulous upper middle grade/YA sci-fi series, Magda: Intergalactic … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Big Tournament
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 