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
Kamusari Tales Told at Night is the second book in Shion Miura’s young adult Forest Series. Narrator Yuki Hirano picks up the story around six months after The Easy Life in Kamusari ended. If you haven’t read the first book, not to worry. A sizable chunk of the opening chapter is a recap of the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Kamusari Tales Told at Night
Imagine leaving high school in a bustling metropolis and being sent deep into the mountains as a trainee forester. And—horror of horrors—having your mobile phone disabled on the day you arrive. This is what happens to Yuki Hirano, an eighteen-year-old Japanese boy, who freely admits that study is not his thing. Well, life in the … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Easy Life in Kamusari
August 6, 1945, is a date forever etched into the memories of those who live in Hiroshima. Today, it is marked by the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony, where thousands of lanterns are set afloat along the Motoyasu River in memory of those who died in the devastating bombing of the city. Soul Lanterns, a historical … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Soul Lanterns
Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn by Yoshiki Tanaka translated from the Japanese by Daniel Huddleston Haikasoru March 8, 2016 304 pages Legend of the Galactic Heroes truly lives up to its name: it takes the reader on a journey across several centuries and many light-years to tell a story that confirms what … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Legend of the Galactic Heroes, Volume 1: Dawn
Dendera by Yuya Sato translated from the Japanese by Edwin Hawkes & Nathan A. Collins Haikasoru February 17, 2015 400 pages Yuya Sato is precisely why you should read speculative fiction in translation. After all, if you were just roaming around a Barnes & Noble, or even many indie bookstores, or looking at the New … Continue reading Speculative Fiction in Translation: Dendera
Let's face it: butts, buttocks, bottoms—whatever term you prefer—are funny. Cute animals are always a hit. Put them together, and you have the delightful Animals Brag About Their Bottoms. Published just this year by the children's imprint of Canada based publisher Greystone Books, this beautifully illustrated and cheeky picture book is a wonderful read aloud … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Animals Brag About Their Bottoms
Kevin has had enough of homework and household chores, so he buys a robot to do them for him. Simple, right? Ah, but there’s a catch: No one is to know the robot is not him. When Kevin attempts to tell the robot about himself, he discovers that he has a lot of information to … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Can I Build Another Me?
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
A classic story about a magical miniature family’s adventures in wartime Japan In a dusty library, in the quietest corner of a house in a Tokyo suburb, live the Little People: Fern and Balbo, Robin and Iris. Just a few inches high, sleeping in cigarette boxes and crafting shoes from old book jackets, they need … Continue reading GLLI Translated YA Book Prize Shortlist: The Secret of the Blue Glass by Tomiko Inui (Japan)
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 