Children

A photograph of Bornholm's rocky seashore and cliff

Photo by Julia Caesar on Unsplash

Sandvig Beach

A fraught parent-child relationship emerges in this excerpt from Hubert Klimko-Dobrzaniecki’s novel Bornholm, Bornholm, in which a middle-aged man speaks to his comatose mother about their visits to the beach during his childhood.

Translated from Polish by Jonathan Baines

Multilingual

Photo by Brandon Hoogenboom on Unsplash

Far Beyond the Sun

By Denise Phé-Funchal

Grandma goes inside the house and a few minutes later comes out with a small ax in her hand.

Translated from Spanish by David Unger

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The covers of the nine books featured in the list: Suee and the Strange White Light, The House...

World Kid Lit Month: Read Around Asia

By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp, Kelly Zhang & Hongyu Jasmine Zhu

This World Kid Lit Month, join us for a tour of Asia with the best of translated Asian literature for young people, including picture books, middle-grade and YA fiction, and graphic novels.

Photo by Pierre Bamin on Unsplash

Morning Procession

By Amit Dutta

Everybody knew that reading strange books was Shaam’s only hobby.

Translated from Hindi by Vaibhav Sharma

Photo by Lute on Unsplash

Because of a Woman: Two Poems

By Babeth Fonchie Fotchind

I would praise your bravery when you were twenty-eight / when you boarded an airbus a330 a child in tow

Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison

Photo by Parker Coffman on Unsplash

Ancestors: Two Poems

By Alfred Schaffer

well you’re right we’re stone dead / nothing to worry about

Translated from Dutch by Michele Hutchison

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Christian Pietzsch, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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Cabo Verde Is the Center of the World

By Germano Almeida

In those days the island of Boa Vista was the whole world.

Translated from Portuguese by Stephen Henighan

Deceptive Simplicity: International Children’s Literature

By Daniel Hahn

I often feel that adults forget what children’s stories are capable of.

Raur Gives His Blanket a Hug

By Maria Parr

“How am I supposed to be nice when nobody’s nice to me?”

Translated from Norwegian by Guy Puzey

Firstclaw

By Sachiko Kashiwaba

Firstclaw’s love spells were rumored to be unusually effective.

Translated from Japanese by Avery Fischer Udagawa

The Appearance of the Dragon, and His Disappearance

By Hooda El Shuwa

Khidr stepped out onto the street and was filled with an extraordinary horror.

Translated from Arabic by M. Lynx Qualey

The Park Bench

By Sandrine Kao

But it’s not surprising—with everything you hear on the news, how can anyone be expected to think well of the Chinese?

Translated from French by Jane Roffe

Heaven Can Wait

By Angelika Glitz

“Look, this forklift even has an electric motor.”

Translated from German by Melody Shaw

Mr. Gimbal’s Incredible Invention

By Justyna Bednarek

The wooden ring looked antique, because, as Mr. Gimbal explained, it was a centuries-old stereoscopic theater.

Translated from Polish by Zosia Krasodomska-Jones

Farfariel: The Book of Micù

By Pietro Albì

“The Devil at your service!” it announced in perfect Italian.

Translated from Italian by Denise Muir

The Blue Book of Nebo

By Manon Steffan Ros

It happened so quickly. The End.

Translated from Welsh by the author

Writing Against the Grain

By Alice Guthrie

The writers here are pushing the boundary of the known and working against the grain of the status quo.

Blue morning glories on a yellow background

Morning Glories by Suzuki Kiitsu. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Seymour Fund, 1954.

from “Everything Shimmers”

By Naja Marie Aidt

. . . the world shimmers / everything unimaginably possible . . .

Translated from Danish by Susanna Nied

MultimediaMultilingual

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

Code Name: Butterfly

By Ahlam Bisharat

Palestinian author Ahlam Bisharat shows a girl shielding a younger child from the harshness of war while struggling to understand it herself.

Translated from Arabic by Nashwa Gowanlock

Rasha

By Muhammed Zafar Iqbal

Whenever teachers said there was good news, it almost always turned out to be nothing of the sort.

Translated from Bengali by Arunava Sinha

photo of a half-open blue wooden door with a latch

Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

The Latch

By Amar Nyaupane

Why did he have to sleep with his bride?

Translated from Nepali by Ajit Baral

Easy as Flushing

By Mikko Rimminen

The teenage girls began chatting aimlessly in rhythmic tones punctuated by robust usage of the F-word.

Translated from Finnish by Eva Buchwald

The Train

By Murathan Mungan

We carry within us the greatest secret in life.

Translated from Turkish by Ruth Christie

How I Went to School

By Tera Fabiánová

I liked doing math. The seven-times table was my darling.

Translated from Czech by David Chirico

From “The Belly of the Atlantic”

By Fatou Diome

He gave me everything: the secret of letters, of numbers, the key to the world.

Translated from French by C. Dickson

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Children

Sandvig Beach

Far Beyond the Sun

World Kid Lit Month: Read Around Asia

Morning Procession

Because of a Woman: Two Poems

Ancestors: Two Poems

The Wolfskin

12 Global Children’s Books for History Lovers

Until the Threads Burn to Ash

The White Tablecloth

The Sea Gives Us Children

Cabo Verde Is the Center of the World

Deceptive Simplicity: International Children’s Literature

Raur Gives His Blanket a Hug

Firstclaw

The Appearance of the Dragon, and His Disappearance

The Park Bench

Heaven Can Wait

Mr. Gimbal’s Incredible Invention

Farfariel: The Book of Micù

The Blue Book of Nebo

Writing Against the Grain

from “Everything Shimmers”

Code Name: Butterfly

Rasha

The Latch

Easy as Flushing

The Train

How I Went to School

From “The Belly of the Atlantic”