#INTLYALITMONTH: A Castle In The Clouds

A Castle in the Clouds by Kerstin Gier Translated from the German by: Romy Fursland ISBN-10: 1250300193 ISBN-13: 9781250300195 Publisher: Holt Books for Young Readers (Henry Holt & Company) Buy it here Sophie Spark is completing an internship at Castle in the Clouds, a picturesque hotel in the Swiss mountains. On any given day, she … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: A Castle In The Clouds

#INTLYALITMONTH: The Courage of Elfina

Written by  André Jacob, Translated by Susan  Ouriou Illustrated by Christine Delezenne ISBN:13: 978-1-4594-1419-8 Publisher: James Lorimer & Company LTD., Toronto Twelve-year-old Elfina lives in Paraguay with her grandmother, brother, and her dad, who she sees every couple of months as he is a migrant farm worker in Brazil. Elfina is aware that her family … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: The Courage of Elfina

#INTLYALITMONTH: Juliet Respira Profundo

Juliet Respira Profundo Written By Gabby Rivera, Translated by Eva Ibarzabal ISBN: 978059329013 Juliet Respira Profundo is the Spanish translation of Juliet Takes A Breathe, written by Bronx-born Puerto Rican author  Gabby Rivera, and translated by Eva Ibarzabal. Juliet Milagros Palante is a proud, brown and queer Bronx girl heading to Portland, Oregon.  Juliet never imagined … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Juliet Respira Profundo

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Agnes’s Place

Filled with brightly colored, intricately detailed illustrations that reward repeated viewing, Agnes’s Place* is a quiet, sweet picture book for readers 3-7 about friendship, new friends, isolation, and belonging.  When the story begins, Agnes is a contented five-year-old who lives in a land of grownups, a land with many buildings and just as many interesting … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Agnes’s Place

Speculative Fiction in Translation: Memoirs of a Polar Bear

Memoirs of a Polar Bear by Yoko Tawada translated by Susan Bernofsky New Directions November 8, 2016 288 pages Inaugural Winner of the Warwick Prize for Women In Translation, 2017 In Memoirs of a Polar Bear, Tawada doesn’t just inhabit the mind of a polar bear to explore such issues as Cold War politics, ancestry, … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Memoirs of a Polar Bear

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Who Left the Light On?

A picture-book ode to the power of creative nonconformity, Who Left the Light On? achieves a rare trifecta: a loosely rhyming book in translation with brilliant illustrations. Mix in important themes—embracing diversity and expressing oneself—add a huge dollop of whimsy, and you have the ingredients to this charming tale. But the sum of the parts … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Who Left the Light On?

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Wonderful Feels Like This

Writing fiction about music can be tricky. Music is sound in time; it speaks to our brains at a pre-verbal level. As a result, using words to describe music can be hard and the literature is littered with near-misses. So it’s a great pleasure as a musician to read a well-written novel centered around music … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Wonderful Feels Like This

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Dragonfly Eyes

Oxymoronic as it may sound, there is an exciting comfort in picking up a book by a beloved author—or, as in Dragonfly Eyes, a beloved, award-winning writer-translator team. What joys, worlds, and experiences lurk within its pages? Will anticipation be tempered by disappointment? In the case of Dragonfly Eyes*, Cao Wenxuan’s new YA historical novel, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Dragonfly Eyes

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Beast Warrior

YA fantasy novel The Beast Warrior takes place about a decade after its award-winning prequel, The Beast Player.* In The Beast Warrior, mixed-heritage protagonist Elin is now a full-fledged Beast Player (a field that combines veterinarian with naturalist) and has had a son with her husband, Ialu. As the book opens, their feudal, agrarian nation is … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Beast Warrior

#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest

Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest is a fascinating, informative, nonfiction book about the wonderful ecology of forests. Written by forester and global advocate Peter Wohlleben, it’s full of appealing color illustrations, quizzes, sidebars, and activities. All laid out in two-page spreads perfectly geared to readers age 8-12, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Can You Hear the Trees Talking?: Discovering the Hidden Life of the Forest