International Published

Dreaming in Black and White
By Reinhardt Jung
Translated by Anthea Bell

Dreaming in Black and White by Reinhardt Jung is an interesting story of a young disabled school boy who dreams of being alive during the reign of the Nazi Party. After learning about the Holocaust in history class, young Hannes daydreams that he is a school boy in Nazi Germany during the Nazi reign. In his daydreams, he is tormented by school bullies and teachers who think he is a social misfit who does not belong in the world. Hannes fears for his Jewish friend Hilde as well as himself since his disability has made him a target of the Nazi Party. This story jumps back and forth from reality and his dreams and can be hard to follow at times.

International Published

Star of Fear, Star of Hope
By: Jo Hoestlandt
Translated from French by Mark Polizzotti

This book is sad, but teaches a good point, and would be wonderful for students to read! This is a story about two friends who face the harsh realities of war at a young age. Helen is turning 9 years old and is unaware of the dangers that occur with being Jewish in a Nazi occupied country. Lydia is Jewish and is forced to wear a yellow star. Helen can’t understand why Lydia must wear the star. On the night that Helen has her birthday party for her ninth birthday, the two girls hear news that Jewish families are being arrested. Lydia becomes panicked and wants to leave immediately to warn her parents. Helen gets upset and declares to Lydia that she is no longer her friend. The two girls never see each other again.

International Published

Timmerman Was Here
By: Colleen Sydor
Canada

This is a book of mystery and a tale of friendship. Timmerman lives in a boarding house and is strongly disliked by a girl who lives in the same boarding house. The girl slowly becomes fond of Timmerman.I enjoyed this book because it follows the age old rule of "don't judge a book by its cover." We should all get to know someone before judging them; they may become our best friend and someone we can't live without. This would be a wonderful book for students to read and learn from.

Awards from other countries

International Literature for Children
~Awards~

We are all familiar with children’s books awards awarded here in America, but there are many awarded in other countries that we need to take into consideration.

Manchester Book Award: This award is given to authors living in the UK. The nominations are made by secondary school students and teachers.

Carnegie Medal: This award was established in the UK in 1936 in honor of Andrew Carnegie. This award goes to books that are published in the UK. The winner receives a medal and books to donate to a school or public library.

Crichton Award: This award is given in Australia. It awards Children's book of the year each year to a book that is published in Australia by an author that lives in Australia.

Chapter book- Diversity

Once Upon a Cuento
Edited by: Lyn-Miller Lachmann

This young adult’s chapter book full of short stories opens your eyes to diversity! Once Upon a Cuento, is an anthology of short stories by contemporary authors. The stories explore heritage and history, identity, language, and relationships from the perspective of Mexican-American, Cuban-American, Dominican-American, and Puerto Rican writers. Contributors include award winning Puerto Rican children’s authors Nicholasa Mohr and Carmen T. Bernier-Grand; Cuban-American novelist, essayist, and poet Virgil Suárez; and Mexican-American short story writers and teachers Lorraine López and Sergio Troncoso.

The stories are grouped by theme—heritage, holidays, and contemporary culture; family life; friends and other relationships; and dealing with differences. Individual stories explore additional themes such as the challenge of making do with little money, the process of moving to a new country and learning English, and young people’s relationships to animals and to the natural world. Each story contains an introduction that offers historical, cultural, and biographical information.

Picture book-Diversity

How My Parents Learned to Eat

By: Ina R. Friedman

This is a wonderful children’s book that addresses diversity. A bi-racial child tells the story of how her Japanese mother and American father met, fell in love, struggled to understand each other's ways, and finally married. It's a wonderful portrait of diversity, showing children that superficial differences in cultures don't really mean much and shouldn't get in the way of people appreciating each other. Its appreciation of cultural diversity and its honest portrait of love are wonderful. There is humor in the book when they both secretly learn each other’s culture of eating and surprise each other. This picture book is great for ages 4 through 8. I feel in love with this book when I first read it last summer at a professional development. It is a fun way to show children about other cultures.

Bridge to Terabithia

Bridge to Terabithia

By: Katherine Paterson

A mastered family movie with a positive message that addresses topical themes for children in a poignant, focused manner. The children depicted are very real and likable and easy to identify with. The movie is a faithful and touching adaptation of the beloved children's classic book.

Jess Aarons is eager to start fifth grade. He's been practicing his sprints all summer, determined to become the fastest runner at school. All seems to be on track, until the new girl in class Leslie Burke, leaves all the boys in the dust, including Jess. After this rather frustrating introduction, Jess and Leslie soon become inseparable. Together, they create an imaginary, secret kingdom in the woods called Terabithia that can be reached only by swinging across a creek bed on a rope. But one morning a tragic accident befalls Leslie as she ventures alone to Terabithia, and Jess's life is changed forever.

I feel that the movie was better than the book because it focused more on the adventures in Terabithia, while the book dealt with the "loss" part more. It stayed very true to the book, but seemed to tie things together much better than I felt the book did. Terabithia didn't seem to be such a driving force in the book, there wasn't much detail about the world, and not much time spent there. The movie made some very nice parallells between the terabithia and reality, which I think is very difficult to do in a book, film makes it much easier. This movie stayed very true to the book!

Where the Wild Things Are

Where the Wild Things Are
By: Maurice Sendak

For those that know and love the book, the featured film version of Where The Wild Things Are produces its own, leisurely paced adaptation of the 300-some-word children’s classic. The book follows the story line of Max being sent to bed without supper due to his wildness. He adventures into a land on a boat for a day comes upon the land where the wild things are. The wild things make Max their king and has a wild rumpus. When Max returns home it is still the make night and find supper waiting.

Although the film may feel too “drawn out” for a full-length feature film, it is all from the point-of-view of 9-year old Max allows you to relive. Of course the film has a more in depth story line due to the size, but keeps the details and the aspect of the book. There is tons in the movie that doesn’t happen in the book; however done of it is realistic based on Sendak book. I’m in love with the movie and the book!

The Tale of Despereaux

The Tale of Despereaux

By: Kate Dicamillo

This book and movie is a charming story of unlikely heroes. Despereaux, a diminutive mouse who, as depicted in Ering's pencil drawings, is one of the most endearing of his ilk ever to appear in children's books. His mother, who is French, declares him to be "such the disappointment" at his birth and the rest of his family seems to agree that he is very odd: his ears are too big and his eyes open far too soon and they all expect him to die quickly. Of course, he doesn't. Then there is the human Princess Pea, with whom Despereaux falls deeply in love. She appreciates him despite her father's prejudice against rodents. Next is Roscuro, a rat with an uncharacteristic love of light and soup. Both these predilections get him into trouble. And finally, there is Miggery Sow, a peasant girl so dim that she believes she can become a princess. The book is and quite different from the movie in various ways, but nothing that majorly changes the story life. The main difference between the source and its adaptation is that while the book exudes charm, the movie leans toward cute, a substitution that largely speaks to the influence of Disney on animation.