by Kathy G. Short, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
The trends in global literature published and/or distributed in the U.S. between Summer 2022 and Summer 2023 are the focus of this month’s WOW Currents. These trends were identified by examining new books published during this time period and consulting book reviews to search for books of most interest to K-12 educators. This column provides an overview of the trends from these recent books; two additional blogs this month take on one of these trends in more depth.
The updated 2023 K-12 global reading lists are posted on the Worlds of Words website and include fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. The lists are organized in grade level bands around broad themes, such as everyday adventures, strength through relationships, forced journeys, taking action, locating self in the world, and mythology and traditional literature. Books that are still in print from previous years remain on the lists. The publication years are included so readers can focus on 2022 and 2023 if only interested in the most recent books.
Recommended books on our list are identified from global books sent to Worlds of Words by publishers for review purposes, book review sources, and global award lists, especially USBBY’s Outstanding International Books and the Batchelder. These recommended books must be set in a global culture outside of the U.S. or focus on a character moving between a global culture and the U.S. In addition to evaluating the books sent to us, we consult review sources to consider their critique of the books. We also examine whether the book is culturally specific with cultural markers in the text or images or is a generic story with no cultural references or values.
The variety of global cultures represented in youth literature continues to grow, a major shift from twenty years ago when the majority of global books available in the U.S. came from English-speaking cultures and countries, such as Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Another recent shift is that many of these books are written by authors about their own family heritage or immigrant experiences. The last several years have reflected a major increase in picturebooks set in India and that trend continues with books like My Paati’s Saris by Jyoti Rajan Gopal and Art Twink (2022) about a young Tamil boy who enjoys trying on his grandmother’s saris. The Middle East and the Silk Road are the setting for several new novels, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams by Daniel Nayeri (2023) and a new series, Spice Road by Maiya Ibrahim (2023). The Philippines, Vietnam, Iran, and various Caribbean nations, such as Jamaica and Trinidad, are other examples of the expanding global cultures in these books. The biggest trend, however, are books set in African countries, especially W. Africa, and so a separate forthcoming blog focuses on these books.
One fun trend is picturebooks focused on clothing and foods connected to family stories and traditions, such as The Yellow Áo Dái by Hanh Bui and Minnie Phan (2023) about a girl who accidentally damages her Vietnamese grandmother’s special dress, and A Dupatta is… by Marieh Abbas (2023), a lyrical ode to the dupatta, a shawl worn by women throughout South Asia. Food is deeply connected to family history and culture as in Granny’s Kitchen by Sade Smith and Ken Daley (2022), where a young girl desperately wants to learn to cook like her Jamaican grandmother, while in Ramen for Everyone by Patricia Tanumihardjja and Shiho Pate (2023), a Japanese boy aspires to make ramen as delicious as his father’s. In Plátanos are Love (2023) by Alyssa Reynosos-Morris and Mariyahd Rahman, a young Afro-Latinx Puerto Rican girl learns to cook a beloved comfort food with her grandmother and, at the same time, learns her family history. Another way of sharing family stories is through creating henna designs as depicted in A Garden in My Hands by Meera Sriram and Saqndhya Prabhat (2023).
Many picturebooks portray the important role of children’s relationships with their grandparents and grandparents as the holders of cultural memory. Quiet Time with My Seeya by Dinalie Dabarera (2023) depicts a young child and her Sinhalese grandfather enjoying time together, even though they do not speak the same language, while Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar by Mjodeh Hassani and Maya Fidawi (2022) follows a grandmother reassuring a child that she will keep her safe in an Iranian market. Heart Berry Bling by Jenny Kay Dupuis (2023) portrays a grandmother teaching Anishinaabe culture to a child through beading.
Another continuing trend is fantasy middle grade and YA novels that integrate folklore and mythological traditions within their story line. Wolfstongue by Irish author Sam Thompson (2022) integrates medieval European folklore into a compelling story of a boy who enters a hidden world of enslaved animals and a scheming fox. The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejia by Alexandra Alessandri (2023) includes magical beings from Colombian folklore in the quest by two siblings to save their father. For young adult readers, Lucha of Night Forest by Tehlor Kay Mejia (2023) tests the bonds of family with freedom in a world of monsters and gods, while The Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea by Axie Oh (2022) imaginatively retells a Korean legend of a girl swept away into the spirit realm of the sea. All Four Quarters of the Moon by Shirley Marr (2022) takes a different approach by integrating Chinese folklore into an imaginary world created by a girl struggling with a family move from Beijing to Australia.
Refugee and immigrant books continue to appear but some are focusing on less well-known historical and contemporary experiences such as the 1947 partition of India and Pakistan in the picturebook The Moon from Dehradun by Shirin Shamsi and Tarun Lak (2022). Where Butterflies Fill the Sky by Zahra Marwan (2022) about a stateless family who are forced to leave Kuwait in order to stay together is a great match with Still Dreaming by Claudia Martinez and Magdalena Mora (2023) about the 1930s forced deportation of Mexican American families to Mexico. Novels based on Cuban immigrant experiences are also a trend, including Growing Up Cuban by Sonia Manzano (2022) and The Bluest Sky by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (2022). Another example is The Lost Year by Katherine Marsh (2023), a middle grade novel in which a boy stuck at home during COVID-19 is forced to help his great-grandmother sort her boxes of memories from the terrible famine of 1930s Soviet Ukraine. Run for Your Life by Jane Mitchell (2023) is a contemporary depiction of a family living in a bleak detention center in Ireland.
Visual narratives in which the story is told entirely through visual images without words continue to invite readers of all ages to enter their story worlds. The Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky by Jihyun Kim (2022) follows a boy on a summer trip to the countryside as he plunges into a lake, while another South Korean illustrator, Zo-O (2023) follows a crow making an empty corner into a space of its own, creatively using the gutter space in Corner. Conflict is portrayed in Thao Lam’s (2022) The Line in the Sand when a line drawn by a monster dragging a stick in the sand becomes a point of tension. A much more serious portrayal occurs in Yellow Butterfly by Oleksandr Shatokhin (2023), a Ukrainian book offering a child’s viewpoint of military conflict and uses a yellow butterfly to signal hope against dark portrayals of barbed wire fences and missiles.
One theme that has exploded over this past year are fiction and nonfiction books on climate change and caring for the environment. These books are set in different parts of the world and depict action by both children and adults. This trend is the focus of a separate forthcoming column on environmental themes that provide examples of books within these themes.
All of the 2023 K-12 recommended global reading lists are available on the website and organized by grade level bands (K-1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, 9-10, and 11-12), separated by fiction and nonfiction with an additional list of global poetry. Each book on these lists includes text complexity information, a brief annotation, and the country or culture within which the book is set. The most highly recommended books are starred.
We encourage you to open your mind and read the world.
WOW Currents is a space to talk about forward-thinking trends in global children’s and adolescent literature and how we use that literature with students. “Currents” is a play on words for trends and timeliness and the way we talk about social media. We encourage you to participate by leaving comments and sharing this post with your peers. To view our complete offerings of WOW Currents, please visit its archival stream.
- Themes: A Dupatta is, Alexandra Alessandri, All For Quaters of the Moon, Alyssa Renosos-Morris, Art Twink, Axie Oh, Bluest Sky, Christina Diaz Gonzalez, Claudia Martinez, Corner, Daniel Nayeri, Depth of the Lake and the Height of the Sky, Dinalie Dabarera, Enchancted Life of Valentina Mejia, Garden in My Hands, Girl Who Fell Beneath the Sea, global books, Granny's Kitchen, Growing Up Cuban, Hanh Bui, Heart Berry Bling, Jane Mitchell, Jenny Kay Dupuis, Jihyun Kim, Jyoti Rajan Gopal, Katherine Marsh, Kathy Short, Ken Daley, Line in the Sand, Lost Year, Lucha of Night Forest, Magdalena Mora, Maiya Ibrahim, Mama Shamsi at the Bazaar, Many Assassinations of Samir the Seller of Dreams, Marieh Abbas, Mariyahd Rahman, Maya Fidawi, Meera Sriram, Minnie Phan, Mjodeh Hassani, Moon From Dehradun, My Paati's Saris, Oleksandr Shatokhin, Patricia Tanumihardjja, Platanos are Love, Quiet Time With My Seeya, Ramen for Everyone, Run for Your Life, Sade Smith, Sam Thompson, Saqndhya Prabhat, Shiho Pate, Shirin Shamsi, Shirley Marr, Sonia Manzano, Spice Road, Still Dreaming, Tarun Lak, Tehlor Kay Mejia, Thao Lam, Where Butterflies Fill the Sky, Wolfstongue, Yellow Ao Dai, Yellow Butterfly, Zahra Marwan, Zo-O
- Descriptors: Debates & Trends, WOW Currents