5 outstanding international books

I’ve been reviewing books for the United States Board of Books for Young People (USBBY), part of the International Board that advocates for literacy and children’s literature around the world. Here are a few books I loved that USBBY honored as “Outstanding International Books.”

“The House That Sonabai Built,” by Vishakha Chanchani, photographs by Stephen P. Huyler.

Sonabai Rajawar, a young mother forced by her husband not to leave her home in the Indian village of Puhphutara, begins to fill her days working with the natural clay she found near the well where she washes clothes. From this beginning, Sonabai developed her original clay human figures, birds, snakes, and other animals, as well as delicate latticework called jaali. This story follows Sonabai’s art from the time she is a young mother until her recognition as one of India's great artists.

“Thank You, Jackson,” by Niki Daly, illustrated by Jude Daly

The South African writer-illustrator team Niki and Jude Daly create a story about a farmer, his wife, Beauty, his son, Goodwill, and their donkey, Jackson. They live in an unnamed African village. Jackson, heavily laden with farm produce, climbs the hill with the farmer to get to the market, as he has done every market morning of his life. One day, Jackson stops halfway up the hill and refuses to budge until the farmer’s son, Goodwill, arrives to help with a lesson of the heart.

“Like a Wolf,” by Antoine Guilloppé, translated by Géraldine Elschner (originally published as “Tout d’unloup” in French)

A caged dog tells his own story of loneliness and hunger for companionship, knowing that people fear him and his wolf-like cry. A shepherd comes and says he looks like a shepherd dog, and he invites the dog to come with him. The dog is then transformed by having a chance to live in the openness of fields and sky. He has a life of running and tending sheep in deep companionship with the shepherd.

“Book: My Autobiography,” by John Agard, illustrated by Neil Packer

The protagonist begins, “My name is book and I’ll tell you the story of my life.” In a lyrical voice, Book explains that before writing came oral storytelling. “Before Book there was Breath.” In small, illustrated chapters, Book guides the reader through periods of its history distinguished by papyrus, feathers, Gutenberg’s movable type, the paperback book, and the coming of the e-book.

“Mister Doctor: Janusz Korczak & the Orphans of the Warsaw Ghetto,” by Irène Cohen-Janca, translated by Paula Ayer, illustrated by Maurizio A. C. Quarello (originally published as “L’Ultimo Viaggio” in Italian by Orecchio Acerbo)

In 1940, Janusz Korczak marched and sang with 170 orphans when the German Army forced them to move from a Warsaw orphanage to the “other side,” the Jewish ghetto. Korczak was a physician, children’s book writer, musician, and fierce advocate for the orphans in Warsaw. The children called him Mister Doctor. The story is told from the point of view of one of the children whom Korczak sustained and championed until 1942, when the Nazis established extermination camps where they were sent. “We were saplings ripped violently from the earth. We never became trees…”