A picture book for readers age 3-7, Memo and the Unexpected Gift is a sweet story with delightful, unexpected twists and gentle, wry humor. The tale begins much like a regular picture book, and the reader quickly expects a traditional trajectory. Memo lives with his grandmother in a small-town cottage. She can’t see very well, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Memo and the Unexpected Gift
Wolf Little Lobo and his rooster sidekick Kooky Dooky are back! Raúl the Third (Raúl Gonzalez) continues his award-winning bilingual ¡Vamos! series with ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge. As in the first two volumes for readers age 4-7, the third bustles with cross-cultural Tex-Mex action and zany illustrations. All three books have brought Raúl the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: ¡Vamos! Let’s Cross the Bridge
An illustrated book for ages 6-10, The Story of Bodri* is based on the experiences of Swedish-Romanian Hédi Fried. A teenager when she was sent to Auschwitz, author Fried lectures today on racism, democracy, and the Holocaust. She was inspired to write The Story of Bodri when a young attendee at one of her talks asked about … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Weekend: The Story of Bodri
Imagine a bilingual Richard Scarry Busytown crossed with The Magic School Bus. Mix in Mexican culture with an old-time comics flair. Add several large tablespoons of zaniness and a quart of cleverness… and you’ll still be missing the secret sauce that makes Raúl the Third’s ¡Vamos! picture book series so fabulous.* The first, ¡Vamos! Let’s Go … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: ¡Vamos! Let’s Go to the Market & ¡Vamos! Let’s Go Eat
A novel for tweens and young teens, The Girl and the Ghost is based on a Malaysian folk tale. It’s much more than a simple retelling, as author Hanna Alkaf has fleshed out the story with richly drawn characters, creating a marvelous tale about friendship, family, jealousy, and love. As the story goes, there was … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: The Girl and the Ghost
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
“Would you like to come with me on a journey beyond the stars?” So asks a friendly flying whale that young Ida meets when she’s half asleep. Who could resist such an enticing invitation? Not I. Nor Ida. And so we enter a dreamy fantasy world as we join Ida and the whale on their … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Ida and the Whale
Who is Mister Orange? And why is this quiet, moving book named after him? Written by award-winning Dutch author and editor, Truus Matti, and beautifully translated by another award-winner, Laura Watkinson, Mister Orange won the Netherlands' 2012 Silver Slate Pencil Award and the American Library Associations's 2014 Mildred L. Batchelder Award. The story begins in … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Mister Orange
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 