07.09.09
Wild things
Due to popular demand, I have started a small book club in west Kobe. We meet twice a month, and translate children’s books from Japanese into English and vice-versa. Last week we translated two books. One of them was a Miffy book and the other was a Penelope book, both taken from European series that are hugely popular in Asia. Next I would like to introduce some American books. Please let me know the books that you loved as small children, and I will try to get a hold of them here and introduce them to the other members. American writers who are already on my waiting list: Eric Carle, Ludwig Bemelmans, Maurice Sendak, etc (we’ve agreed not to do any Disney or Sesame Street). I know there are far more, but I just can’t think of any now. At the moment we are interested in books aimed at pre-schoolers and first/second graders. I am open to any suggestions!
Karen said,
July 9, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Nicole loved the Little Bear series by Elsie Holmelund Minarik. I always loved the nursery ryhmes (the mother goose). All kids seem to love the Dr. Seuss books, but I’m not sure how well those translate.
Miko said,
July 10, 2009 at 12:08 am
Thank you, I’ll use the Little Bear books. Perhaps I can use Dr. Seuss books to explain about how children learn rhythm and rhyme, neither of which feature largely in the Japanese language. We are going to try our hand at Mother Goose, the Japanese are quite fascinated with our nursery rhymes as there is no true equivalent to them here.