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Translated Books for Summer Challenge 2023

Created on April 27, 2023, 2:48 pm

Last Updated May 30, 2023, 2:11 pm

Do you need a translated book suggestion for Summer Reading Challenge? We are here to help! Audience: adults, teens/young adult, children (including middle grades). Includes graphic novels and nonfiction. Prepared by K-M. Cajigas for Summer Reading Challenge 2023. Total titles: 54

Author

Laestadius, Ann-Helén

Notes

Translated from Swedish.

Description

A young Indigenous woman struggles to defend her family's reindeer herd and culture amidst xenophobia, climate change, and a devious hunter whose targeted kills are considered mere theft in the eyes of the law. On a winter day north of the Arctic Circle, nine-year-old Elsa--daughter of Sámi reindeer herders--sees a man brutally kill her beloved reindeer calf and threaten her into silence. When her father takes her to report the crime, local police...

Author

Le Tellier, Hervé, 1957-

Notes

Translated from French.

Description

"Winner of the Prix Goncourt, this dizzying literary page-turner ingeniously blends crime, fantasy, sci-fi, and thriller as it plumbs the mysteries surrounding a Paris-New York flight. In June 2021, a senseless event upends the lives of hundreds of men and women, all passengers on a flight from Paris to New York. Among them: Blake, a respectable family man, though he works as a contract killer; Slimboy, a Nigerian pop star tired of living a lie; Joanna,...

3) Yellow butterfly: a story from Ukraine

Author

Shatokhin, Oleksandr

Notes

Translated from Ukrainian.

Description

"A wordless picture book portrayal of war seen through the eyes of a young girl who finds hope in the symbolism of yellow butterflies against the background of a pure blue sky. Using the colors of his national flag, Oleksandr Shatokhin has created a deeply emotional response to the conflict in Ukraine and provided a narrative full of powerful visual metaphors for readers to consider as they travel from the devastating effects of war to a place of...

4) Just a girl: a true story of World War II

Author

Levi, Lia, 1931-

Notes

Translated from Italian.

Description

"1938, Italy. Six-year-old Lia loves to build sandcastles at the beach and her biggest problem is her shyness and quiet, birdlike voice--until prime minister Mussolini joins forces with Hitler in World War II, and everything changes. Now there are laws saying Jewish children can't go to school, Jews can't work, or go on vacation. It's difficult for Lia to understand why this is happening to her family. When her father loses his job, they must give...

5) The bear and the wildcat

Author

Notes

Translated from Japanese.

Description

A bear lost a little bird, who was his best friend. After the loss, he barely talks to anyone and carries everywhere a little box in which the body of the bird is placed. One day a bear meets a wild cat, and while listening to the cat's violin, he thinks about many memories with his best friend. Suggested level: junior, primary.

6) Different: a story of the Spanish Civil War

Author

Montañés, Mónica, 1966-

Notes

Translated from Spanish.

Description

"During the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, siblings Soccoro and Paco must live with constant secrets while they wait to reunite with their father, who fled Spain due to political persecution"-- Provided by publisher.

7) João by a thread

Author

Notes

Translate from Portuguese.

Description

"As João tucks under a lovingly woven quilt, he asks himself: So it's just me now? He curls up, getting cozy in bed, and soon the world of his dreams unspools on the page. The blanket in his bed unravels into deep rivers, lakes, valleys, reservoirs, mountain ranges, fishing nets full of tadpoles and gaping holes, until what's left is just one long thread. When he feels alone and scared in the dark, João "sews words like patchwork" into a new blanket...

8) Telling stories wrong

Author

Notes

Translated from Italian.

Description

Grandpa playfully recounts a familiar fairytale--or his version, at least--to his granddaughter, and try as she might to get him back on track, he keeps on adding things to the mix, resulting in an unpredictable tale that comes alive as it is being told.

9) Death is hard work

Author

Khalīfah, Khālid, 1964-

Notes

Translated from Arabic.

Description

A dogged, absurd quest through the nightmare of the Syrian civil war Khaled Khalifa's Death Is Hard Work is the new novel from the greatest chronicler of Syria's ongoing and catastrophic civil war: a tale of three ordinary people facing down the stuff of nightmares armed with little more than simple determination. Abdel Latif, an old man from the Aleppo region, dies peacefully in a hospital bed in Damascus. His final wish, conveyed to his youngest...

10) river of fire

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

11) The memory police

Author

Ogawa, Yōko, 1962-

Notes

Translated from Japanese.

Description

"A deft and dark Orwellian novel about the terrors of state surveillance, from the acclaimed author of The Housekeeper and the Professor On an unnamed island off an unnamed coast, things are disappearing. First, animals and flowers. Then objects--ribbons, bells, photographs. Then, body parts. Most of the island's inhabitants fail to notice these changes, while those few imbued with the power to recall the lost objects live in fear of the mysterious...

12) Saving Sorya: Chang and the sun bear

Author

Nguyen, Trang, 1990-

Notes

Translated from Vietnamese.

Description

"A young conservationist overcomes the odds to return a sun bear to its natural habitat"--Provided by publisher.

13) Black Moses

Author

Mabanckou, Alain, 1966-

Notes

Translated from French.

Description

"A rollicking new novel described as "Oliver Twist in 1970s Africa" (Les Inrockuptibles) by the finalist for the Man International Booker Prize. It's not easy being Tokumisa Nzambe po Mose yamoyindo abotami namboka ya Bakoko. There's that long name of his for a start, which means, "Let us thank God, the black Moses is born on the lands of the ancestors." Most people just call him Moses. Then there's the orphanage where he lives, run by a malicious...

14) remainder

This entry no longer exists in the catalog

15) Seekers of the Aweto Book 1: The Hunt Is On

Author

Notes

Translated from Chinese.

Description

Xinyue, his brother Qiliu, and their mother are seekers, hunting aweto--a rare, plantlike treasure--along the legendary Silk Road. After one outing, Xinyue discovers the offspring of a deity that creates aweto--and becomes the little creature's reluctant caretaker. He soon struggles to keep it safe and keep it a secret. And that's before he learns that warriors from the deity's village are on his family's tail...

16) The Sea-Ringed World: sacred stories of the Americas

Author

García Esperón, María

Notes

Translated from Spanish.

Description

Contains a collection of short stories of Native American myths and legends from tribes and cultures throughout all of the Americas. Includes a transcription of Indigenous terms, a pronunciation guide, a map, and a glossary.

Author

Canizales (Harold Jiménez Canizales)

Notes

Translated from Spanish.

Description

"Andrea, a young Indigenous Colombian woman, has returned to the land she calls home. Only nineteen years old, she comes to mourn her lost child, carrying a box in her arms. And she comes with another mission. Andrea has hidden a camera upon herself. If she can capture evidence of the illegal mining that displaced her family, it will mark the first step toward reclaiming their land."--Back cover.

18) We would pretend

Author

Marois, André, 1959-

Notes

Translated from French.

Description

"When two mischievous friends are told to go outside to play, the backyard becomes their setting for a frantic, thrilling adventure. As they role-play their way from becoming King and Queen of Pumpkins to embarking on a voyage to Mars, their vivid imaginations give them magical powers to venture forth and fight their enemies mercilessly. It's only when they're abruptly brought back to reality that they'll find themselves truly in danger!"-- Provided...

19) Where we go from here

Author

Notes

Translated from Portuguese.

Description

When Victor finds himself getting tested for HIV for the first time, he can't help but question his entire relationship with Henrique, the guy he has-had-been dating. See, Henrique didn't disclose his positive HIV status to Victor until after they had sex, and even though Henrique insisted on using every possible precaution, Victor is livid. That's when Victor meets Ian, a guy who's also getting tested for HIV. But Ian's test comes back positive,...

20) Here the whole time

Author

Martins, Vitor, 1991-

Notes

Translated from Portuguese.

Description

When Felipe, who is very insecure about his weight, is forced to spend winter break with his long-term crush, Caio, he must face his unresolved issues head-on.