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
While most of the Amazon rainforest is found within the borders of Brazil, other South American countries such as Peru and Colombia lay claim to portions of its acreage. The Amazon itself is home to hundreds of indigenous people groups, who find themselves increasingly displaced from their ancestral homes, or even killed, because of mining, … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Amazona
Selected as a 2021 GLLI Translated YA Book Prize honor book, Almond is the story of Soon Yunjae, who as child is diagnosed with alexithymia, or the inability to identify and express one’s feelings. His amygdalae—the almond shaped structures in the brain responsible for interpreting external stimuli as emotional responses— are, as he explains, "unusually … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Almond
Review by Sarah Ducharme The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna Deka is terrified. She is turning 16 and the Ritual of Purity is looming. She's worried that her community will discover what she has suspected about herself for years: she's different. She might even be "Impure," the label given to any girl whose blood runs … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna
Review by Jonathan Hill Burmese Moons by Sophie Ansel and Sam Garcia America and the media we consume is incredibly sterilized, especially to the plight of the people who aren’t white. We’re led to believe that despite harrowing circumstances, through determination and strength of spirit, we’ll be delivered the happy ending. Everything will work out … Continue reading #INTLYALITMONTH: Burmese Moons by Sophie Ansel & Sam Garcia
As an early literacy advocate, I am a huge proponent of graphic novels and comic books. Graphic novels can help hook reluctant readers, build visual literacy, and challenge students to read analytically. Do not let the presence of pictures fool you; as in picture books, there is often more to them that meets the eye. … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Hunt is On (Seekers of the Aweto Book 1)
As someone who grew up during the 80s and 90s, I have several memories of the earlier years of the AIDS epidemic. I still remember the news reports of gay men dying in large numbers, and learning about how HIV is spread—and how it is not. I also remember the death of Freddie Mercury (right … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: Where We Go From Here
Much of the rhetoric around immigration from Central America across the southern United States border discusses persons wanting to enter the U.S. in abstract and dehumanizing terms: as caravans, illegal aliens, vectors of disease, even as an invasion. We spend so much time talking about Central American refugees and what they represent, yet we rarely … Continue reading #WorldKidLit Wednesday: The Other Side
The beauty of the close, mutually supportive relationship between brothers Vincent and Theo van Gogh at the end of Vincent's turbulent life is the heart and soul of this graphic biography, written by cartoonist Barbara Stok for the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Stok "based scenes and storylines in Vincent on Van Gogh’s letters to his brother … Continue reading #DutchKidLit Young Adult Biography – Vincent by Barbara Stok
Shortlisted for the 2021 Global Literature in Libraries Initiative Translated YA Book Prize I always thought death would look different.A bit like in the movies.Spectacular, sad, or perhaps scary.But your death was lonely,even though there were four people around you:three people watching -- and me,your murderer. - Murderer, Fright Night What if you had the … Continue reading #DutchKidLit – Fright Night by Maren Stoffels
Global Literature in Libraries Initiative 