On April 14, 2021, 2020 GLLI #TranslatedYA Book Prize Chair Annette Y. Goldsmith and 2021 Prize Chair David Jacobson hosted an online presentation as part of the Fay B. Kaigler Children’s Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi. The presentation included video reviews of select titles by committee members, as well as long-form interviews with the … Continue reading IntlYALitMonth: Who can resist authors enthusiastic about their GLLI Translated YA Book Prizes?
Translator Larissa Helena in conversation with Lawrence Schimel
Here The Whole Time and Where We Go From Here are two queer YA novels in translation from Brazilian Portuguese published by Scholastic this year. In a Brazilian LGBT sweep, both titles won the #2021GLLITranslatedYALitBookPrize this week. Translator and World Kid Lit co-founder Lawrence Schimel spoke to their translator Larissa Helena about the books last September. Indeed, Lawrence … Continue reading Translator Larissa Helena in conversation with Lawrence Schimel
#WorldKidLit Wednesday: Trees for the Absentees
Being a teenager is hard enough as it is. Layer in the loss of a beloved grandparent, gossiping relatives, a father who is a political prisoner, and the trauma of military occupation, and perhaps the only way to make sense of everything is to resort to the fantastical. Trees for the Absentees is the coming-of-age … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Trees for the Absentees
#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
#WorldKidLitWednesday: Meet Reviewer Lebohang Masango
Photo credit: Austin Malema Please extend a warm welcome to Lebohang Masango who joins the #WorldKidLit Wednesday team at the Global Literature in Libraries Initiative blog as a regular reviewer. Lebohang is a writer, poet and anthropologist with an impressive range of publications to her name, including Mpumi’s Magic Beads, a picture book for which … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Meet Reviewer Lebohang Masango
#BlackIsBeautiful: Let’s do it for the culture: Books that celebrate the roots and origins of hip-hop music
The following books celebrate the beauty and roots of hip-hop music and culture. Casual readers and hip-hop aficionados will be thoroughly engaged with these books while bobbing their heads to the beats of their favorite "Master of Ceremonies" (MC) or newly discovered ones. Young Adult: Let Me Hear a Rhyme: by Tiffany D. Jackson Lyrics: … Continue reading #BlackIsBeautiful: Let’s do it for the culture: Books that celebrate the roots and origins of hip-hop music
#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
#BlackIsBeautiful: Where creative and self expression leads to activism!
Punching The Air by Ibi Zoboi and Yusef Salaam, of the Exonerated Five is a book that illustrates how creative expression can be a powerful tool for activism and social change especially for our youth today. Dr. Yusef Salaam is one of five African American and Latino men that were coerced into falsely confessing and … Continue reading #BlackIsBeautiful: Where creative and self expression leads to activism!
#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: A Winter’s Promise/ The Missing of Clairdelune
Set in a post-Rupture steampunk world, A Winter’s Promise and The Missing of Clairdelune by Christelle Dabos tell the story of Ophelia, a member of the Anima ark who can animate objects. Unassuming, clumsy, and shy, Ophelia has two major talents and life passions. First, she is a superb object “reader,” i.e., she can view … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: A Winter’s Promise/ The Missing of Clairdelune
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 