When she loses her jump rope, it is found by a little fox who is ecstatic at her apparent good luck. (Chronicle, 2017) shows a very small girl who exhibits extraordinary, perceptive kindness. The Fox Wishby Kimiko Aman, illustrated by Komako Sakai, and translated by POPLAR Publishing Co. Many benefits of reading cross-culturally come from diving deeply into texts rather than focusing on superficial differences. The following picture books from Japan emphasize different values and can prompt interesting conversations with children. Many American picture books celebrate individuality, often defined as being proudly different from others, speaking one’s mind, and being openly assertive.
She chose to focus on the cultural messages conveyed in picture books.
So, naturally, we asked Laura to share her thoughts on Japanese literature in translation. My resolution for 2018 is to make a more deliberate effort to seek out these works. Why limit ourselves when there is a world of new perspectives waiting to be discovered? Books from other cultures not only offer different answers, they often ask different questions, and it’s time we started to listen.
The eager embrace by American teens of Japanese manga and Korean manhwa shows that the audience is there. With literature in translation hovering at around 3 percent of the total works published in English, there is plenty of room for growth. The movement toward more diversity in the book world is gaining traction, and translated literature needs to be an integral part of this expansion of the voices we have access to. It also centers on an intergenerational friendship, this one between a lonely biracial girl who is bullied and an elderly jazz musician. The most recent translated YA novel I read came out this year: the exquisite Wonderful Feels Like Thisby Sara Lövestam, translated from the Swedish by Laura A. It was a beautiful meditation on coping with grief framed by an intergenerational friendship. I clearly remember the first YA book in translation I ever read: Kazumi Yumoto’s 2002 title The Letters, translated from the Japanese by Cathy Hirano. 22Įditor’s Note: Soon after Laura Simeon became Kirkus’ YA Editor in January, she penned the following appeal for more translated literature: May GLLI Blog Series: Japan in Translation, No.
0 kommentar(er)
