#WorldKidLitMonth Suggested titles: classics and contemporary classics
Children’s and YA books in translation: classics and contemporary classics
This list is intended to help bookshops, libraries and schools create a display of translated children’s and teen books for World Kid Lit Month in September.
It’s also a great reading list for anyone who wants to read the classics of world children’s literature!
Primary / Middle Grade
The Little Prince The Adventures of Tintin Author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery Author: Hergé Translator: Katherine Woods (Egmont) Translator: Michael Turner and Leslie / Ros and Chloe Schwartz (CRW Publishing) Lonsdale-Cooper (Egmont)
The Story of Babar Heidi Author: Jean De Brunhoff Author: Johanna Spyri Translator: Merle S. Haas Translator: (Penguin Classics)
Finn Family Moomintroll Meet Pippi Longstocking Author: Tove Jansson Author: Astrid Lindgren Translator: Elizabeth Portch Illustrator: Ingrid Nyman Publisher: Oxford University Press Emil and the Detectives Author: Erich Kästner Asterix the Gaul Translator: Author: Renné Goscinny Publisher: Vintage Children's Classics Illustrator: Albert Uderzo Translators: Anthea Bell and Derek Hockridge #WorldKidLitMonth Suggested titles: classics and contemporary classics
Akissi: Tales of Mischief The Letter for the King Author: Marguerite Abouet Author: Tonke Dragt Illustrator: Mathieu Sapin Translator: Laura Watkinson (Pushkin Press) Translators: Marie Bédrune & Judith Taboy (Flying Eye) Doctor Proctor's Fart Powder Author: Jo Nesbø Elise And The Second-Hand Dog Translator: Tara Chace (Simon and Schuster) Author: Bjarne Reuter Illustrator: Kirsten Raagaard Translator: Siân Mackie
MAPS The Story of the Little Mole Who Knew It By Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Was None of His Business Mizielinski Author: Werner Holzwarth Translator: Antonia Lloyd-Jones Illustrator: Wolf Erlbruch
Press Here Creaturepedia: Welcome to the Greatest Author: Hervé Tullet Show on Earth Illustrator: Hervé Tullet Author and illustrator: Adrienne Barman
#WorldKidLitMonth Suggested titles: classics and contemporary classics
Teen / Young Adult
Persepolis The Beast Player Author: Marjane Satrapi Author: Nahoko Uehashi Illustrator: Marjane Satrapi Translator: Cathy Hirano Translator: Mattias Ripa Publisher: Pushkin Press
The Diary of a Young Girl The Murderer's Ape Author: Anne Frank Author: Jakob Wegelius Translators: Mirjam Pressler & Susan Massotty Translator: Peter Graves Publisher: Pushkin Press
More titles?
For more ideas of children’s and YA books in translation to promote or read during September, World Kid Lit Month, please see:
● World Kid Lit Blog https://worldkidlit.wordpress.com/ ● Outside in World http://www.outsideinworld.org.uk/ ● Planet Picture Book https://planetpicturebook.com/ ● Global Literature in Libraries Initiative #WorldKidLitWednesdays https://glli-us.org/category/worldkidlit-wednesday/ ● Social media hashtags #worldkidlit, #WorldKidLitWednesdays and #WorldKidLitMonth
What is World Kid Lit Month?
World Kid Lit Month is a month to celebrate world literature for kids and teens, especially fiction and nonfiction translated to English from other languages. On social media and at home — and pandemic allowing, in schools, libraries, bookshops — September is the time to find out about global reading for young people. It’s a time to discuss why we should look beyond the books published in our own country and also how to find books first published elsewhere. Above all, it’s a dedicated time to shine a light on a vibrant and diverse area of children’s publishing with lots of potential for classroom use and reading for pleasure.