“Papa painted a thousand birds…because the world was falling apart.” So begins this memoir for teen and adult readers by the father-daughter team of Ahmadjan and Maren Amini. Maren grew up in Germany amid her father’s art and stories of his native Afghanistan. The son of farmers from the Panjshir Valley of northern Afghanistan, Ahmadjan … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Papa Drew a Thousand Birds
Last week the 40th IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) Congress was hosted by IBBY Canada in Ottawa, Canada, with 500+ attendees from 60 countries in attendance. The theme was "Listening to Each Other's Voices" -- and it was echoed across all the sessions, with a special focus on Indigenous and endangered languages … Continue reading #WorldKidLit: IBBY & GLLI
Whether it's your cup of tea or not, horror is having a moment. While not generally considered a horror story per se, Dante's Inferno is, in fact, one of the early masterpieces of the genre, right up there with the much older Greek myth of Oedipus Rex and the more recent Frankenstein and The Tell-Tale … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Dante’s Inferno: A Graphic Novel Adaptation
An explosion and traffic crash involving a truck filled with pigs on their way to the slaughterhouse leads to unexpected fame and terror for a teenage band in Rosario, Argentina in 1976. Sixteen-year-old Daniel Aguirre and his 15-year-old brother Adrián write a song from the perspective of pigs who end up in the neighborhood’s cooking … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Hear Ye Mortals
This is the 8th year of the GLLI Translated YA Book Prize, which recognizes publishers, translators, and authors of books in English translation for young adult readers, aged 12 through 18 inclusive. (See the prize criteria here and submission guidelines here.) Twenty-two books in eight languages, published within the past three years, were submitted for this cycle and a … Continue reading Congratulations to the 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize Winner & Honor Books (& Wrap-up to #IntlYALitMonth)
Today’s post comes to you from Tim Pruzinsky More Than Monsters Beasts – by Ingvild Bjerkeland / Translated from Norwegian by Rosie Hedger (Levine Querido/2025) – NORWAY Beasts was unanimously shortlisted by the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative YA Translated Book Prize committee. Its propulsive pacing and highly engaging reader experience made it a no-brainer for recognition. Coming … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: GLLI 2026 Shortlist: Beasts
Today’s post comes to you from Kim Tyo-Dickerson & Helle Kirstein Windows and Mirrors from the Shore Self Portrait – by Ludwig Volbeda / Translated from Dutch by Lucy Scott (Levine Querido/2025) – NETHERLANDS [Previously reviewed on this blog by Lynn Miller-Lachmann on Feb. 4, 2026] Ludwig Volbeda’s debut Young Adult novel, Self Portrait, is an intimate, stream-of-consciousness epistolary … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: GLLI 2026 Shortlist: Self Portrait
Today’s post comes to you from Frances Sims-Williams Out-of-This-World Cooking (and Conspiracies) The Big Tournament: Book 1 (Magda, Intergalactic Chef) – by Nicolas Wouters, illustrated by Mathilde Van Gheluwe / Translated from French by Ann-Marie Boulanger (Graphic Universe/2025) – BELGIUM [Previously reviewed on this blog by Nanette McGuinness on Dec. 17, 2025] Chosen to represent her home planet … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: GLLI 2026 Shortlist: Magda
Wednesdays are reserved for #WorldKidLit posts, and today's will do double-duty as both #WorldKidLit and #IntYALitMonth. Vicky Lyfoung's recently published "Hmong: A Graphic History," translated from French by Kao-Ly Yang (2026), is an accessible account of the long and complex history of the Hmong people, now strewn around the world. She starts with her own … Continue reading #WorldKidLit: Hmong
Today’s post comes to you from Sabrina Rossi The Village Beyond the Mist - written by Sachiko Kashiwaba (1975) and translated from Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa (2025) - GLLI review by Nanette McGuinness on Mar 19, 2025 - Shortlisted 2026 GLLI Translated Young Adult Book Prize The Village Beyond the Mist, (霧のむこうのふしぎな町 - Kirino mukōno … Continue reading #IntYALitMonth: GLLI 2026 Shortlist: The Village Beyond the Mist
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 