In the pampas of Argentina in the mid-twentieth century, a young girl, Clara, helps her mother wash and deliver laundry for the wealthier families of their village. One day, her mother tells her to “Take these clothes to the man in the big house.” The mother warns her not to get distracted, to leave the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Clara and the Man With Books in His Window
Written by Angela Erickson From Skeptic to Enthusiast (Again!) When I wrote recently about my evolving relationship with graphic novels, I focused on the nonfiction science titles in translation that had caught me by surprise. I wrote about those first because they were what I have been reading most recently, but it was not graphic … Continue reading #INTYALITMONTH: Feminism, Storytelling & the Power of the Graphic Novel
Written by Angela Erickson My Early Skepticism I’ve been thinking a lot about graphic novels lately. As a former Head of Middle School English, the teachers in my department and I often struggled to get students to move from graphic novels to traditional novels. And to be fair, there’s research suggesting that graphic novels cultivate … Continue reading #INTYALITMONTH: Seeing Science in Translation
Get ready for a riot of colors and a garden of savory flavors! A nonfiction picture book for ages 4-7, How Do you Eat Color explodes off the page with vivid images of delicious fruits and vegetables that are as delightful to read about as they are enticing to imagine munching on. The book begins, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: How Do You Eat Color
A sweet, otherworldly tale that’s billed as “the fantastic adventure that first inspired Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved film, Spirited Away,” The Village Beyond the Mist is sure to charm. Set in a magical town hidden in a mysterious forest clearing, The Village Beyond the Mist is a delightful, multigenerational fantasy for middle grade readers about service. Is that … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Village Beyond the Mist
Filled with imaginative illustrations, Thread by Thread is a delightful picture book for readers age 4-7 that is based on a single, wonderfully extended metaphor--knitting. It's also a moving story about a family of refugee mice. When the story begins, the family lives in a lovely, tidy, red knit house: "Toasty warm in my home, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Thread By Thread
This post originally appeared in my blog - Informative Flights on the 17th of November, 2024 For a while now I've been wanting to highlight the curation of books related to the countries and cultures of our students, and finally this year I got around to creating posters "Celebrating xxx" which I post to our … Continue reading #Dec Displays – Celebrating Germany – By what are we known
by Stephen Sartarelli I have always believed—at least when translating prose—that a literary translator should be like the arbiter or umpire of a sporting event: the less noticed the better. Whenever readers and critics praise, for example, the stylistic elegance of an author I happen to have translated, I take this as a compliment to … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.44: On Translating Camilleri: Notes from the Purer Linguistic Sphere of Translation
by Howard Curtis Gianfranco Calligarich’s Last Summer in the City was first published in Italy in 1973, when its author, like the book’s protagonist, was a young journalist in Rome: this was his first novel. Despite initial success and critical acclaim, it was then forgotten for several decades. It is only in the last ten … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.43: Gianfranco Calligarich’s Last Summer in the City
by Clarissa Botsford The Unbreakable Heart of Oliva Denaro by Viola Ardone is a novel about consent: a living and breathing testament to the #NoMeansNo and #MeToo movements. It’s the kind of book that people read in one night and then pass on to friends. It also lends itself to class and book-club discussions precisely … Continue reading #ItalianLitMonth n.31: No Means No, or Does It? A Moving Testament to a Young Woman’s Courage
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 