Bridges to Understanding: Envisioning the World through Children's Books

This delightful publication represents a commitment by the author to enlarge the cultural experiences of children through exposure to children's books. It is sponsored by the United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY), and the author quotes the founder of the international organisation (IBBY) that peaceful coexistence can begin with international literary and artistic exposure of literature to children of the world....There are only a few folk tales in the collection, since it was felt that this was an easily accessible list. All the bibliographic entries follow the same format: author/editor, translator where appropriate, title, illustrator where appropriate, publisher and date of publication. Alternative titles are listed if appropriate, as well as ISBNs, pagination, approximate reading level, cultural relevance and genre. For each there is a scholarly, critical commentary, ending with any major awards received. There are notes about the author/illustrator's country of origin or current residency. Naturally there could be debate about the titles selected or not selected for inclusion, and obviously editorial decisions are part of the quality of the book. Considering the thorough approach, the book's international coverage is staggering. Publications from over 90 countries are included, and there is a chapter on multinational books. There are 46 Australian titles and five NZ titles. There are web addresses for online exploration as well as details of print resources. A further chapter discusses the major international children's literary awards and the major US awards within the 2005-2010 time frame. The book concludes with an author/translator/illustrator index and a title index.