Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Every child is entranced by the magic of story, regardless of national boundaries. Many of the most memorable childhood stories have their origins in other countries. Exposing children to this multi-national body of literature introduces them to the great diversity of people and cultures that populate the world at a young age, enabling them to become more thoughtful and generous individuals.

Children's Books from Other Countries is a complete and current guide to international children's literature. The concept of a bibliography of international children's literature is not new. In the past, many books have accomplished this task. The last two decades, however, have not yet produced a current reference source devoted to international children's books. Children's Books from Other Countries wonderfully rectifies this lack of attention.

An introductory essay provides an overview of the field including a discussion on the rationale of sharing international books with children, a brief history of the children's literature movement, related books and awards, and basic information about the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY) and its American branch, the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). An annotated bibliography contains over 700 titles from 29 different countries printed between 1950 and 1996. All titles are available in English; many have been translated and others have originated in other English-speaking countries. The titles are organized by genre and have been selected for their high quality. They are primarily targeted for children ages 0-14, although a few outstanding young adult titles are included. Winners of the Mildred Batchelder Award and the Hans Christian Andersen Medal are listed in the appendix. Indexes include Author-Title Index, Country of Origin Index, and Subject Index. Affordable and readable, this timely resource is certainly a "must" for librarians and teachers, and other professionals working with children.

Sponsored by the United State

Reviews provided by Syndetics

School Library Journal Review

Recognizing that the best way to learn about the cultures of other lands is through their literature, the United States Board on Books for Young People sponsored this reference guide to children's titles originally published outside of the U.S. and translated into English. This resource is divided into three sections, containing a broad overview of the field, advice on how to use the books, and signed evaluative annotations for over 700 titles, arranged by genre. Each entry includes full bibliographic information, country of origin, and suggested age ranges; awards are noted. Many of the books have been published since 1987; however, some are no longer available in the U.S., and there are some older works like Arthur Ransome's Pigeon Post (Godine, 1992), which was originally published in 1937. The subject index is very broad; users searching for a story about a specific type of animal, for example, will have to be diligent. Teachers and librarians looking for high-quality international titles will find this a useful tool.-Dona J. Helmer, Montana State University, Billings, MT (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

CHOICE Review

A companion update to the two volumes of Books from Other Countries (1968-1971, by Elana Rabban, CH, Nov'74, and 1972-1976, by Anne McConnell, 1978), this book lists 700 fiction and nonfiction titles translated into English or published in English-speaking countries other than the US, 1950-96. The annotated bibliographies are divided by genre, then by author. Each entry contains standard bibliographic information, age range, and country of origin. As one would expect, entries from Britain, Australia, and Canada predominate. Part 1 is a brief introduction to international children's literature; part 2 has ideas for librarians and teachers in using these books with children. There are author-title, subject, and country of origin indexes. The appendix lists children's book awards. Alethea Helbig's excellent Dictionary of Children's Fiction from Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and Selected African Countries: Books of Recognized Merit (CH, May'93) covers 263 books but does not include translations; Vicki Anderson's Cultures outside the United States in Fiction: A Guide to 2,875 Books for Librarians and Teachers, K-9 (1994) covers more than 150 countries but includes only fiction. Recommended for public, college, and university libraries. T. M. Racz Eastern Michigan University

Booklist Review

To help promote international children's literature in the library and the classroom, this attractive paperback is a readable basic reference with an annotated bibliography of 724 quality titles from 29 countries outside the U.S. Editor Tomlinson provides a clear overview of the publishing history and of the present situation, and he discusses how to share international books with children in curricular units, in read-alouds, and in thematic units that connect books from the U.S. with those from abroad. The books are organized by genre, and each annotation includes age range, country of origin, and prizes won, as well as imprint information, plot summary, and evaluation. An appendix lists the Hans Christian Andersen awards and the Mildred Batchelder awards; and there's a special index by country of origin. Sponsored by the United States Board of Books for Young People (USBBY), which will use the royalties to promote children's books here and abroad, this is an excellent tool that shows and tells the importance of global reach. --Hazel Rochman

Horn Book Review

Here is a welcome resource-an annotated bibliography of books that were originally published in other countries, either in English or another language, and then later published in the United States. Tomlinson, for whom this undertaking on behalf of the United States Board on Books for Young People was clearly a labor of love, opens with an introduction to the field of international literature and advice for sharing international literature with children. The book closes with an appendix listing the winners of the Hans Christian Andersen Awards and the Mildred Batchelder Awards and with useful indexes. The bulk of the volume is devoted to individual international books: over seven hundred titles published between 1950 and 1996 from a total of twenty-nine countries. Each entry includes bibliographic information (for the American edition) and lists the country of origin and significant awards and honors. The annotations are readable and informative, giving the user of this resource a real sense of each book. Quibbles? They are perhaps unavoidable in a work of this scope. The titles are organized by genre with an unnecessary and sometimes unhelpful rigidity (why separate realistic picture books from fantasy picture books? And does the grounded, true-to-child-life Can't You Sleep, Little Bear? really belong in fantasy?). Sometimes sequels are noted, sometimes not; sometimes a sequel will be listed, but not the first book. Some prolific authors have only one or two titles listed, and some personal favorites may turn up missing altogether (where are the Sam books by Eva Eriksson? or Watanabe's How Do I Put It On?). But these small cavils aside, a most meritorious achievement: a centralized source of information on the field of international books and a spur to widen all of our reading boundaries. m.v.p. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

B> Carl M. Tomlinson is Professor of Language Arts and Children's Literature at Northern Illinois University. He is the co-author of Essentials of Children's Literature (Allyn & Bacon, 1996), and has published articles about international children's literature in various publications.