By Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
This month, SCBWI and World Kid Lit have teamed up to mark World Kid Lit Month: an annual celebration of international literature for young people. September is the perfect time to read beyond your borders, and to explore children’s books from other countries and translated from other languages.
It’s also Hispanic or Latin American Heritage Month from mid September to mid October, and today, we tour North, South and Central America, exploring some must-read translated and bilingual books for children and teens.
While there is much excellent writing in English by authors of Latin American heritage (celebrated by prizes such as the ALSC’s Pura Belpré Award, named after Pura Belpré, the first Latina librarian at the New York Public Library), today I want to focus on translated kid lit from across the Americas, and let a few inspirational translators be our guides.
Translation is a highly skilled and creative art, and as SCBWI Translation Coordinator Avery Udagawa Fischer explains, it’s important that the translator (and the language the book was translated from) is clearly named in a book’s copyright pages, in the metadata and ideally on the cover, too. The visibility of a book’s journey from one language to another can be a real boost for young people who speak another language at home: there’s a certain pride at seeing your language or identity represented in the books shared in the classroom or library.
Translator visibility also helps curious readers of any background find their next read as we follow the trail through translators’ backlists.
As a translator myself I particularly love it when publishers - like Enchanted Lion - dedicate a whole page of their website to showcase their talented translators. The first translator I wanted to highlight is Sara Lissa Paulson. Her translation of the philosophical riddles and rhymes in the Book of Questions/Libro de las Preguntas by Chilean poet and Nobel Prize winner Pablo Neruda (illustrated by Paloma Valdivia) was published to much critical acclaim. And her recent translation of the Colombian middle grade novel Johnny, the Sea and Me by Melba Escobar, illustrated by Elizabeth Builes is an absolute delight: family breakdown, an unlikely friendship, and finding your inner strength, all amidst a Caribbean island setting fragrant with ex-pirate Johnny’s delicious cooking!
Daniel Hahn has many notable translations from Spanish, too, such as surreal Argentinian classic An Elephantasy, and this beautiful new release: The Invisible Story, a celebration of the inclusive power of storytelling and of Braille, by Jaime Gamboa & Wen Hsu Chen, first published in Guatemala. But he has translated many gems from Portuguese, too, such as the work of Brazilian picture book artists Roger Mello and Fernando Vilela.
Continuing with Brazilian literature, two more translators could be our guides: Alison Entrekin brought José Mauro de Vasconcelos’s moving memoir My Sweet Orange Tree to English, while Lyn Miller-Bachmann's many translations include a picture book by Ruth Rocha. Following the Rocha trail then brings you to Tapioca Stories, US publisher of some of the brightest, quirkiest picture books from Brazil and Latin America (three recent releases, translations by Bruna Dantas Lobato, Kit Maude and Tal Goldfajn, were reviewed by SCBWI members this week in Words Without Borders).
In terms of works for older readers, translator Larissa Helena’s work could be life-changing for teens: her three translations of Brazilian queer YA from Vitor Martins and Lucas Rocha are all worth a read (and won well-deserved recognition from the GLLI Translated YA Prize). And while you’re exploring LGBTQ lit from South America, don’t miss Chilean graphic novel memoir Gay Giant by Gabriel Ebensperger (find out more from the translators Kelley D. Salas and Mercedes Guhl). Another translator who is championing Latin American YA is Claire Storey, whose translations of creepy atmospheric YA thrillers from Argentina and Uruguay are not to be missed (The Darkness of Colors by Martín Blasco is out next month!)
You won’t get far exploring Latin American kid lit before you encounter Lawrence Schimel, who has recently translated picture books by Colombian author Irene Vasco and and Mexican artist Juan Palomino, Argentinian artist/author Isol, and Claudio Aguilera and Gabriela Lyon from Chile. His translation of Balam & Lluvia’s House by Guatemalan author and playwright Julio Serrano Echeverría, beautifully illustrated by Yolanda Mosquera, was shortlisted for the UK’s CLiPPA Poetry Award, and Carlos Pintado and Lawrence Schimel’s HaiCuba/HaiKuba, illustrated by Juan José Colsa, is a sparkling celebration of life in Cuba through haikus - Spanish and English - from the perspective of two children.
While on the topic of poetry, no collection for young people is complete without the work of Guatemalan Indigenous poet Humberto Ak’abal, who wrote first in his native K’iche’ (published in a Spanish/English bilingual edition by Groundwood Books, translated by Hugh Hazelton).
Heading north with this Canadian publisher, Groundwood Books publish Shelley Tanaka’s translations of Quebecois French authors; find out about a new favorite recommended by Jackie below. But first, having begun with Pura Belpré, let’s go back to her legacy, and her classic fables recommended by Connie.
Puerto Rico
by Pura Belpré, illustrated by Tomie de Paola
First published in 1946. The edition pictured was published in 1965 by J.B. Lippincott Company
Recommended by Connie Salmon (SCBWI New England)
Connie says:
"These are stories that Pura would hear from her mother and grandmother, ever since she was a little girl growing up in Puerto Rico. My favorite is 'The Tiger and the Rabbit'. It’s about a tiger that lives among many different creatures in the woods. He especially wants to eat one of these creatures, the rabbit. But the rabbit is quick and clever and keeps outsmarting the tiger. The tiger never gets the chance. By the end of the story, the tiger and the rabbit become the best of friends and live together in peace.
"I first became aware of this story from another book, Stories from Puerto Rico by Robert L. Muckley and Adela Martinez-Santiago (copyright 1999). In this book, the story is called 'Friend Rabbit'. I wanted to see if there was any earlier book with this particular story. So, I went online and that’s when I saw Pura Belpre’s book, which was copyrighted in 1946.
"I retold the story in my own version, The Rabbit and the Tiger, which was published in Skipping Stones Magazine in their March 2012 issue. My story is a little shorter and the rabbit is very much the hero. Being from Puerto Rico myself, I love to hear stories like this. I want to recommend this book for World Kid Lit Month because stories from this little corner of the world are very much underrepresented."
Canada
Taming Papa
by Mylène Goupil, translated from French by Shelley Tanaka
English edition published in Canada by Groundwood Books, 2024
Published in French as Mélie quelque part au milieu by Québec Amérique, 2024
Recommended by Jackie Friedman Mighdoll (SCBWI San Francisco/South)
"Mélie’s father, who she didn’t even know existed, is released from prison in an unnamed country and comes to live with her and her mother in their tiny apartment. How can Mélie connect with this stranger who doesn’t speak her language and won’t leave the apartment? As Mélie and her Papa learn to communicate, the warmth and fun build. The book is composed of straight-forward text and easy-to-read short chapters, but the underlying emotions are complex and poignant. It’s one of my favorite reads this year—and a great mentor text for character relationships."
Connie Salmon is a graduate of the Institute of Children’s Literature. She writes children’s fiction and nonfiction. She has been published in Boy’s Life and Skipping Stones Magazines. Connie leads a writer’s critique group that meets in Glastonbury, CT. She is a member of the New England SCBWI Region and also of the SCBWI Translations Group.
Jackie Friedman Mighdoll is a writer, educator, translator and entrepreneur. She is passionate about nurturing the next generation of global citizens. She currently serves on the board of World Kid Lit and on the steering committee of SCBWI’s Impact and Legacy Fund.
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is an Arabic teacher and a literary translator working from Arabic, Russian and German into English. She gives workshops in schools about reading the world and creative translation, and is managing director of World Kid Lit CIC, the hosts of World Kid Lit Month.
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