Translated Books for Youth: Celebrating the Batchelder Award - Past, Present & Future

What gives a translated book that je ne sais quoi? Is it the act of reading a book that could be read by someone else on the other side of the globe? Or is it the exciting flavor of a book that was originally written in a language other than English, for an audience other than children in America? Or is it that special quality that allows a reader to have a window, mirror, or sliding door to a global peer? The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is a citation awarded to an United States publisher for a children’s book considered to be the most outstanding translated book of the year. This award was conceived in 1966 and honors Mildred L. Batchelder, a former executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children, a believer in the importance of good books for children in translation from all parts of the world. Her life's work was "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages." After decades of steady, but small numbers of submissions for this award, the ALSC Board commission a task force in 2017 to evaluate the evolution of the award. Approved recommendations resulted in modest but critical changes to the criteria that better reflect modern publishing practices and alignment with ALSC Core Values. This webinar, led by the 2019 Batchelder Chair and Member of the Batchelder Evolution Task Force, will provide a brief overview of current publishing practices, a review of the criteria changes, a look at Batchelder winners, and a sampling of ways in which a brighter spotlight can be shone on these special titles.

Instructor: Tessa Schmidt

This webinar was recorded on July 17, 2019.