Once in a while you happen on a book that requires you to slow down and savor each page in order to fully appreciate it. The Blue Bench is one such picture book. The blue bench has been a fixture of the local park for as long as anyone can remember. It features on every … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: The Blue Bench
Do you remember not being able to read? I certainly don't... Most of us have been reading for so long that we can't remember what it felt like not to be able to understand everything we saw around us. Nor do we have any inkling of what the mysterious world of visual symbols looked like … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Lines, Squiggles, Letters, Words
When a boy calls young Nora “flamingo legs,” a magic bubble wand tells her that he secretly likes her. When a girl says, “I’m telling everyone not to play with you,” the wand reveals that the girl feels blue when she can't have Nora all to herself. Could it be that lots of what people … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Nora the Mind Reader
Shadow Sorcery Minister Beelzebub Preposter is in quite a pickle. His Aunt Tyrannia Vampirella is in the same pickle jar with him. It’s New Year’s Eve and Preposter's gotten behind on his evilness payments. Despite his best efforts, he has only managed to perform half his annual obligation of making ten species extinct, polluting five … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: The Night of Wishes, or The Satanarchaeolidealcohellish Notion Potion
How sweet is a picture book where the villain gets foiled *and* gets mooncakes? Happy Mid-Autumn Festival is that book. Ssshhh, don’t spoil the ending like I just did. To savor thoroughly, read aloud with a toddler-through-early elementary student who, at first glance, sees nothing more than a book about a holiday. Ho-hum. Your young … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Happy Mid-Autumn Festival
Make way for a wonderful fairy tale for readers ages 6-10! Written by beloved Hungarian children’s author Ervin Lázár, Arnica, the Duck Princess features sumptuously colored, folk art illustrations by Jacqueline Molnár that make it both a satisfying read-aloud and read-alone book, bridging the gap between picture book and middle grade chapter book. Anna Bentley’s … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Arnica, the Duck Princess
What? A fiction title for grown-ups on #WorldKidLit Wednesday? Yes, Ms. Ice Sandwich by Mieko Kawakami, translated from Japanese by Louise Heal Kawai, works as adult, young adult, AND middle grade reading. Why? This slim import from the U.K.’s Pushkin Press, released Stateside by Penguin Random House, features a fourth-grade boy as main character and … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ms. Ice Sandwich
Did you have a pen pal when you were little? Maybe someone from halfway around the world, whom you’d never seen, from a land you knew nothing about? That’s the premise of Yours Sincerely, Giraffe, a sweet, zany chapter book for ages 6-10, with charming illustrations by award-winning artist Jun Takabatake (Bologna Children’s Book Fair Graphics … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Yours Sincerely, Giraffe
I love a sweet first-love story. Here’s one set in Mexico in summer that is bound to charm a middle grader near you. The Wild Book by Juan Villoro, translated by Lawrence Schimel, features a thirteen-year-old boy named Juan whose summer begins in the worst possible way: with news of his parents’ divorce. He learns … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Wild Book
Meet my wonderful co-#WorldKidLitWednesday blogger, Avery Fischer Udagawa! Avery grew up in Kansas and has lived in Bangkok, Thailand, for over a dozen years. But does she translate from Thai into English? No! That would be far too straightforward a situation for this busy, accomplished translator. Avery is a multiply published translator of Japanese … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Meet Translator Avery Fischer Udagawa
