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The Wild Book by Juan Villoro

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A middle-grade / YA debut from a leading Mexican author. First published in Mexico City in 2008. This English translation by Lawrence Shimel.

Thirteen-year-old Juan’s summer is off to a terrible start. First, his parents separate. Then, almost as bad, Juan is sent away to his strange Uncle Tito’s house for the entire holiday! Who wants to live with an oddball recluse who has zigzag eyebrows, drinks fifteen cups of smoky tea a day, and lives inside a huge, mysterious library? As Juan adjusts to his new life among teetering, dusty shelves, he notices something odd: the books move on their own! He rushes to tell Uncle Tito, who lets his nephew in on a secret: Juan is a Princeps Reader, which means books respond magically to him, and he’s the only one who can find the elusive, never-before-read Wild Book. An unforgettable adventure story about books, libraries, and the power of reading.

Hope Road is a publisher specialising in writers and writing from Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. 

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Alfred And The Blue Whale by Mina Lystad ill. Ashild Irgens tr. Sian Mackie

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A charming story for 5-7 translated from Norwegian.  The author works in Norway as a journalist, TV scriptwriter, photographer and blogger. This was her debut children’s book.

Alfred is scared of red lights, thick duvets and fireworks. And of jumpers with tight necks. Preparing a class talk on the Blue Whale gives him courage and confidence.

The illustrator is also Norwegian.

Her Instagram handle is ‘showonthegreen’ https://www.instagram.com/shoeonthegreen

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Lampie And The Children Of The Sea by Anne Schaap tr. Laura Watkinson

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Every evening Lampie the lighthouse keeper’s daughter must light a lantern to warn ships away from the rocks. But one stormy night disaster strikes. The lantern goes out, a ship is wrecked and an adventure begins. In disgrace, Lampie is sent to work as a maid at the Admiral’s Black House, where rumour has it that a monster lurks in the tower. But what she finds there is stranger and more beautiful than any monster. Soon Lampie is drawn into a fairytale adventure in a world of mermaids and pirates, where she must fight with all her might for friendship, freedom and the right to be different.

The video includes the author reading from Lampie in the original Dutch:

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Greek Publisher Sets Up UK Imprint

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papadopoulos_publishing

Papadopoulos Publishing is to set up an imprint in the UK to publish children’s books.

Faros Books will launch in February and plans to publish 10 titles in the first year, building to 15-20 books in 2024.

“The decision to become English language publishers in the first place came after we realised that many of our Greek language picture books were being translated (and published successfully) in other languages, but too few among them in English,” the publisher’s MD told The Bookseller. “English language books output is so huge that very seldom do publishers there seek to translate books (especially children’s’) from other languages. Thus we took the task upon ourselves!”

 

Little Wise Wolf by Gijs van der Hammenill. Hanneke Siemensma tr. Laura Watkinson

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Originally published as Kleine wise wolf in 2017, we should be grateful to Book Island and their chosen translator for bringing the book so quickly to an English language audience.

It is a story about a little wolf, who slowly realises he may not be as wise as he thinks he is, and that the world is much bigger than that contained within his books.

Little Wise Wolf has time for only one thing: reading books. All right, two things: at night he studies the stars. When the other animals come to him to get answers to their difficult questions, Little Wise Wolf has no time for that. Until one day, a raven appears. The king turns out to be seriously ill, and Little Wise Wolf is called on to use his knowledge to make him better again. On the way to the palace it turns out that, although Little Wise Wolf may know a lot about the things he has read in his books, and seen in the stars, he has a lot to learn about the outside world.

 

Piero by Edmond Baudoin

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Originally published (France 1998) for young adults, Piero traces the lives of two boys through awkward schoolyard encounters, burgeoning sexuality and a lot of drawing.  It’s a bittersweet tale ranking amongst the very best in Baudoin’s powerful oeuvre. Translated into English for the first time.

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