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 centuries of military occupation, and perhaps the only way to make sense of everything is to resort to the fantastical. Trees for the Absentees is … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Trees for the Absentees
A couple of weeks ago, a request popped up in my Twitter feed from none other than Ann Morgan, who read her way around the world: https://twitter.com/A_B_Morgan/status/1277171693463756800 It prompted a flurry of responses from #worldkidlit enthusiasts and inspired me to think about picture books in translation for the very young. While I believe that many … Continue reading #WorldKidLitWednesday: Picture Books for Infants and Preschoolers
“They had fed him these sinister thoughts dressed up with noble phrases . . . It was only once they’d settled deep inside you that they grew and grew, and started to suck away at your soul.” These lines from the novel The Raven’s Children by Yulia Yakovleva, translated from the Russian by Ruth Ahmedzai … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Raven’s Children
This beautiful book is a playful retelling of the fairy tale Rapunzel, but with a twist. Leila and Sami keep missing each other: she sits up in her high tower waiting for him, but no matter how many times he comes and calls for her, she doesn’t answer. He wonders why, until he realizes … Continue reading “Answer me, Leila”
Libraries are at the heart of the community and they have the potential to bring people together while also offering individuals life-changing opportunities. One important way that libraries can encourage immigrant and refugee families to visit is to stock a range of picture books for younger readers in bilingual and monolingual editions in a … Continue reading THE JASMINE SNEEZE
'[...] she held out a hand above my head. "Do you swear by God that you'll tell the world what I have to say?" she asked. "I swear." "Swear by the thing you hold most dearly deep in your heart." I swore quietly, and as her palm came down on my head … Continue reading The Crossing: My Journey to the Shattered Heart of Syria
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 