To celebrate National Translation Month, we’ve rounded up a few new and forthcoming books in translation. Learning a new language is an exciting task and can create some amazing opportunities. However, for those of us that only read English, there’s a lot to be said for appreciating the stories of authors who write in other languages, and the skilled translators who interpret their stories.
This fall, Ronsdale Press is publishing the second French volume in the Happy the Pocket Mouse series, which are also available in English editions. Youpi et ses bonbons, (Jellybean Mouse) written by Philip Roy, follows the escapades of Youpi, an insatiably adventurous and curious mouse.
With vivid illustrated by Andrea Torrey Balsara, these editions—including volume one, Les contes de Youpi—are appropriate for ages 2 and up, or older kids learning a new language.
Orca Book Publishers is releasing a number of their popular Indigenous children’s books in dual English and Plains Cree (y dialect) editions.
We’re particularly excited about Monique Gray Smith‘s You Hold Me Up /Ki Kîhcêyimin Mâna. This vibrant picture book, beautifully illustrated by celebrated artist Danielle Daniel, encourages children to show love and support for each other and to consider each other’s well-being in their every-day actions. Award-winning author Monique Gray Smith wrote You Hold Me Up to prompt a dialogue among young people, their care providers and educators about Reconciliation and the importance of the connections children make with their friends, classmates and families.
Other dual-language (English and Plains Cree) titles being released this year are:
- Welcome Song for Baby / Ni Nikamon ‘Tawâw Nipepîmis’ by Richard Van Camp;
- Kiss by Kiss / Ocêtôwina: A Counting Book for Families by Richard Van Camp;
- Little You / Kîya-K’apisîsisîyân by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by Julie Flett;
- My Heart Fills With Happiness / Ni Sâkaskineh Mîyawâten Niteh Ohcih by Monique Gray Smith, illustrated by Julie Flett;
- and We Sang You Home / Ka Kîweh Nikamôstamâtinân by Richard Van Camp, illustrated by Julie Flett.
Published this fall, Around Her by Sophie Bienvenu (Talonbooks) traces twenty years of the lives of Florence Gaudreault and her estranged son Adrien through the prism of twenty characters who have crossed their paths and who, each in turn and with their own unique voice, tell their story.
Translated by Rhonda Mullins, Around Her is a multifaceted novel that explores, through the words and reflections of a large community of characters, the bonds that unite us, and love in all of its manifestations – the love that one finds, that one loses, destroys, desires, or recovers.
The Secret Wisdom of Nature: Trees, Animals, and the Extraordinary Balance of All Living Things – Stories from Science and Observation (Greystone Books) is the final installment in Peter Wohlleben‘s Mysteries of Nature trilogy.
Following on the success of The Hidden Life of Trees and The Inner Lives of Animals, this new book is sure to be a bestseller. Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait until Spring 2019 to get a hold of a copy (sorry!). All three books in the trilogy were translated into English from German by Jane Billinghurst.