Part thriller, part nostalgic political critique, Alexei Ivanov's The Food Block (2024, translated from Russian by Richard Coombes and published by Glagoslav Publications) takes place in a pioneer camp on the banks of the Volga set against the backdrop of the 1980 Moscow Olympics. The Food Block (Пищеблок) was originally published in 2018, and was … Continue reading #INTLYA Month: Vampires and Collectivism in ‘The Food Block’
Giovanni (Gianni) Rodari’s importance to Italian children’s literature is hard to overstate, though English translations of his books have been scarce until the last few years. Born in 1920, he was a young adult in Mussolini’s Italy, and in response, became a lifelong Marxist and anti-fascist. His politics are often visible under the surface of … Continue reading #IntlYALitMonth: Gianni Rodari and His Grammars of Fantasy
Today’s post comes to you from Emma Page On April 23rd, the University of Reading Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing (CBCP) in partnership with Outside In World (OIW) will present a webinar dedicated to Arabic YA in English translation, as part of their webinar series ‘Explorations in Translation for Children’. Despite a huge, diverse base … Continue reading Webinar 23 April 2026: Arabic Young Adult Literature in Translation
Equal parts Our Bodies, Ourselves, Margaret Mead, and biology/history explainer, Born a Girl: It Takes Courage is an approachable feminist manifesto for today's teens that embraces difficult topics. Organized around the fictionalized stories of five teenage girls---one each from Nepal, France, Afghanistan, Kenya, and Mexico---this nonfiction YA illustrated book lays out a frank, sympathetic description … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Born a Girl: It Takes Courage
Welcome back to #WorldKidLit Month 2025! Today's post comes to us from Staci Fox. One of the coolest things about running a library these days? Our readers are more connected to the world than ever before. Whether it's through travel, streaming services, international classmates, or even TikTok trends, there's a real appetite for stories that … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month 2025: The Moonwind Mysteries
Welcome back to #WorldKidLit month on GLLI. Today's post comes to us from Mairin Raisdana. Published in 2019 and translated in 2023, Roses and Violets is the first book in the Rosenholm fantasy trilogy by Danish author Gry Kappel Jensen, translated by Sharon E. Rhodes. The book is set in Rosewood Boarding School, a school … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Month 2025: Roses & Violets
When Annick, an older teenager living in Amsterdam, learns that the grandmother who has raised her ever since her parents’ death in an accident, needs a bone marrow transplant, it leads her on a journey that will take her across oceans and continents, and almost 70 years into the past. Searching for a perfect match, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Song of a Blackbird
Mika is back! She stars in the award-laden Moonwind Mysteries, a gripping upper MG/YA historical series set in 1880s Sweden. The first two books in the series, The Night Raven and The Queen of Thieves, were filled with suspense, gritty details, fast pacing, and vivid characters, including the city of Stockholm, which becomes a tangible … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Lost Ones
In 1934 the American occupiers have left Haiti, but things are no better for the people ruled by corrupt and brutal section chiefs. When one of them kidnaps 16-year-old Lucille’s best friend and cuts down their favorite mapou tree, Lucille goes down to the police station to inquire. That puts her own family in danger, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: When the Mapou Sings
How lucky young people are today in their choices of memoirs. Today I'm celebrating that many of our students are able to see themselves, not just in fiction but in the stories that people are willing to share of their lives, their struggles, their memories and their triumphs. Originally I had a place-holder poster up … Continue reading #DecDisplays – Recent Memoirs
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 