English to Korean, Korean to English: New Trends in Korean and English Children’s and YA Literature in the U.S.

By Yoo Kyung Sung, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM

The U.S. children’s literature market remains one of the most conservative in embracing international titles, especially when compared to other countries. Many Asian nations publish significantly more translated books from Western countries than the U.S. does in reverse. Short (2018) highlights that while organizations such as the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY) promote global literature through initiatives like the annual Outstanding International Books (OIB) list, translated works still make up only 3 to 4 percent of U.S. children’s book publications. Although this marks an improvement from earlier estimates of 1 to 2 percent, it remains a stark contrast to the 30 to 40 percent typical in many European nations. Even among the international books available in the U.S., English-language titles from countries like the UK, Canada, and Australia continue to dominate (Short, 2018). Continue reading →

Introducing Intellectual Freedom to Elementary Library Patrons

By “Ms. Smith”, School Librarian, Southwestern U.S.

“Why do you love banned books?” – 3rd grade students

During library classes, the most common questions I receive at my circulation desk are in reference to my “I ♥ Banned Books” plaque. I always respond with some variation of “I believe everyone should be able to read whatever they want,” or “Banned books are great books!” This draws puzzled looks and sometimes the reply “But they are BANNED!” As a service provider for an elementary library, these questions were the impetus behind my passive library display for Banned Book Week (October 5-11th, 2024). The response the display garnered was both more basic and more in-depth than I had planned for and will guide my displays going forward in the coming years. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: A Wolf Called Fire

Warm is the smallest pup in the litter, but he is also the most observant. He watches. He watches his stronger and faster litter mates vie for a place in the pack while he is content to stay with the delta wolves who teach and care for the youngsters. Warm learns to listen and to smell while observing the happenings around him. Warm eventually becomes the encourager and the heart of the pack even as his siblings seem to outgrow him. But Warm is content not to be the next alpha male and starts to care for the newest litter once those pups arrive. And it is when the pack is attacked by the more aggressive “ice wolf” pack that Warm proves his loyalty to his family by heeding his mother’s directive and leading the newest litter away from the fray. Once safe from the conflict, however, Warm is confronted with not only the loss of his wolf family, but also the responsibility of taking care of and teaching the newest members of his pack. A Wolf Called Fire is the story of Warm and his rise to leadership. Based on one of the wolves in Yellowstone, readers will be captivated by the life of Warm and how he earns the name Fire. Continue reading →

WOW Dozen: Books About Hair

By Janine M. Schall, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley

What kind of hair do you have? How do you take care of it? Do you like to try new hair styles or colors? Do you wear your hair in a certain way to express your personality or connect to your culture? What our hair looks like and how we wear it is one of the most obvious, easily noticeable things about us. For this reason, many people spend a lot of thought, time and care on ensuring that their hair is exactly the way they want it to be.

The way that we wear our hair can be an expression of our personality or a way to be fashionable. However, hair is also profoundly connected to culture, history, and power, embodying societal norms and values. The way we style our hair and the rituals we have surrounding hair care convey powerful messages about our identity to others. In some cultures, new hairstyles are even required to mark a change in maturity or status. At the same time, people make inferences and judgements about a person’s group identities, religious beliefs, and even morality based on their hairstyle. Continue reading →

Author’s Corner: Terry LaBan

By Abby Ballas, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ

“If you have to be a cartoonist, you’ll be a cartoonist,” as was the case for Terry LaBan, who discovered his calling in grade school as “the kid who could draw.” Since then, LaBan has led a successful cartooning career, starting with his work at Ann Arbor News where he composed political cartoons. He has also published works with notable comics publishers such as Fantagraphics, Dark Horse and DC Vertigo, but his longest position was with Egmont, with whom he wrote Donald Duck comics for 14 years for Europe’s substantial Donald Duck fanbase. LaBan spent an even longer period working with his wife, Patty LaBan, on Edge City, a comic centered around a Jewish family modeled after the LaBans. Terry LaBan’s most recent work, Mendel the Mess-Up, reflects his intrigue with historical societies while paying homage to his Jewish ancestry. Mendel the Mess-Up is a wholesome and humorous middle-grade graphic novel featuring a 12-year-old Jewish boy prone to accidentally wreaking havoc within his shtetl (a little Jewish village located in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust). Continue reading →

Holding Space for Story, Reflection and Voice

By Junko Sakoi, Tucson Unified School District, Multicultural Curriculum Integration Coordinator

Censorship remains a significant issue affecting schools across the United States, with ongoing debates over educational content, children’s rights and academic freedom. In 2024, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 821 attempts to censor library materials and services, involving 2,452 titles. While this represents a decrease from 2023’s record of 1,247 challenges and 4,240 titles, the numbers remain significantly elevated compared to pre-2020 levels, which averaged 270 titles challenged annually between 2001 and 2020.

The ALA attributes the 2024 decline to factors such as underreporting, often linked to concerns about retaliation and controversy. In addition, evolving state legislation has influenced the availability of books featuring LGBTQIA+ characters, characters of color and themes related to race and racism. Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: Oasis

In this post-apocalyptic graphic novel, JieJie and her little brother DiDi make their way through a desolate desert landscape to reach an isolated telephone booth, their only contact with their mother who works tirelessly in a factory in the domed city of Oasis.

Their days are filled with surviving sandstorms and scavenging for food and water until they find an obsolete robot abandoned in a junkyard. They piece the robot together and activate its mother mode, gradually developing a loving relationship. When their worried mother travels to visit them in the desert, she initially rejects the robot mother. Her children persuade her that they can form a family and create a future together, rejecting the technological tyranny of Oasis. Continue reading →

A Book for Pondering and Perspective-Taking: Border Patrol by Joseph Bruchac

By Holly Johnson, Emeritus Professor, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

Almost every book allows for a perspective that may be different from the reader’s, and many books give readers something to ponder, but books that afford both pondering and perspective-taking are a bit more rare. Joseph Bruchac’s new book, Border Patrol (2025), is one such book. It brings to life both current issues and historical context, which had me contemplating just how much of U.S. history might need rethinking.

Lily, a middle grade Mohawk girl, has a lot to say in respect to border issues both current and historical. The book shares Lily’s thinking through a series of verses that can be read individually—with openings for much discussion—or in a series of verses that give readers numerous ways to contemplate another perspective while also pondering their own actions if they found themselves in similar situations or confronted with someone like Lily. Continue reading →

WOW Dozen: Taking Action for the Earth

By Susan Corapi, Trinity International University, Deerfield, IL & Annette Y. Goldsmith, Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel, Los Angeles, CA

With the recent Presidential decision to withdraw from the United Nations Paris Agreement that supports changes for restoring health to the climate, grassroots action becomes more vital than ever. There has been an uptick in publishing books that highlight environmental concerns and kids taking action to address local issues that impact the health of nature and the planet. This set of books inspires, informs and empowers young readers by telling how youth from around the world have creatively recycled waste (Flipflopi), invented ways to minimize or reuse waste (The Last Straw) and taken a stand to prevent further damage to the environment (Autumn Peltier). Earth day is April 22, 2025–a great day to read one of these books! Continue reading →

WOW Recommends: Buffalo Dreamer

Buffalo Dreamer by Violet Duncan is a middle grade novel that confronts the painful and traumatic history of the Indigenous residential school system. Duncan, a member of the Plains Cree and Taino from Kehewin Cree Nation, addresses not only the horrors of the past, but also the resilience and strength of Indigenous communities who persevered through this painful history and found ways to maintain both their culture and identity. Sharing this history is very personal to Duncan whose father, grandparents, aunts and uncles were all survivors of the residential school system, Sixties Scoop and Indian Day Schools. Duncan states that she too is a survivor. Continue reading →

Worlds of Words

International Collection of Children’s and Adolescent Literature