To borrow from a popular internet meme, I once again want to remind you that picture books are for everyone. Luckily, Enchanted Lion Books understands the assignment. Specifically targeted at teen and adult readers, the company's groundbreaking Unruly imprint has already brought us complex, award-winning written and visual narratives that both delight and discomfit. Originally … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: We Go to the Park
At the risk of repeating myself yet again, picture books are for everyone. They are most certainly appropriate for young adults, especially when they are bold, daring, and splashed with a bit of danger. Published by Enchanted Lion Books' new picture book imprint Unruly, You Can't Kill Snow White is both a new interpretation and … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: You Can’t Kill Snow White
What has no color, but can be any color? What has no shape, but can take any shape? Why, water, of course. Almost Nothing, Yet Everything is a wondrous exploration of water by multi-award-winning creative duo Hiroshi Osada and Ryōji Arai. Aimed at readers ages 4-8, this picture book pairs Osada’s beautiful, lyrical ode to … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Almost Nothing, Yet Everything: A Book About Water
If you are familiar with Japanese picture books, you may know that Chirri and Chirra, In the Night is merely the latest (eighth!) entry in the delightful series from author and illustrator Kaya Doi. Translated by David Boyd, this sweet little book is an ode to the magic that nighttime can bring. Chirri and Chirra … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Chirri & Chirra, In the Night
There are parents and caregivers who look upon bedtime with dread. It can be a fraught time, what with perhaps recalcitrant young children who don't always realize how nice it is to go to sleep, and adults who want nothing more than to do the same. In dreamy Norwegian import Bedtime for Bo, however, a … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Bedtime for Bo
Children ask a lot of questions, sometimes to their parents' chagrin. When parents ask me how to deal with their child's seemingly endless questions, I always suggest that they turn it back around on their child: "what do you think?" This buys a parent a few extra moments to gather their thoughts, while also encouraging … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Book of Questions
"The Batchelder Award is awarded to a United States publisher for a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originating in a country other than the United States and in a language other than English and subsequently translated into English for publication in the United States during the preceding year."-- Association … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Historical Fiction and the 2014, 2015 Batchelder Awards
Inger Hagerup is recognized as one of Norway's greatest 20th century poets. Originally published in 1961 with illustrations by Paul René Gaughin, Little Parsley is a classic collection of 17 of her poems for children, freshly translated from the Norwegian by Becky Lynn Crook. Ideally suited to children in lower primary, Little Parsley is an … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Little Parsley
What if Death liked his coffee "black and strong?" And left his scythe outside the door, so as not to scare the young ones? That's who Death is in Cry, Heart, But Never Break, originally written in Danish by award-winning children's author Glenn Ringtved, with wistful, pencil-and-watercolor illustrations by Charlotte Pardi. In this gentle, moving … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Cry, Heart, But Never Break
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
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 