Though it is widely stated that translations amount to 3% of published literature in the United States, in the case of children's literature, the actual percentage is closer to 5%. In the paper, posted on Betsy Bird's Fuse 8 Productions blog at the School Library Journal website, I analyze the increase, and offer suggestions as to how expand the reach of translated literature in the U.S.

This article is part of a larger research project investigating small, innovative Polish children’s publishing companies. As shown in previous studies, these ‘Lilliputian publishers’ were important initiators of change in the cultural repertoire of children’s books available in Poland at the turn of the millennium. The change they initiated is closely related to the fact that translations account for two-thirds of their output. Drawing on interviews and a case study of children’s literature imported from France, the research reported in this article identifies and analyses the criteria and mechanisms of book selection for translation with a view to expanding understanding of the role of publishers in the literary translation event and their interactions with other actors in this process. The article explores also the impact of the studied publishers’ literary imports on children’s literature in Poland and, more generally, the role of the small, independent publishers as leaders of innovation in children’s literature.

This article is part of a larger research project investigating small, innovative Polish children's publishing companies. As shown in previous studies, these 'Lilliputian publishers' were important initiators of change in the cultural repertoire of children's books available in Poland at the turn of the millennium. The change they initiated is closely related to the fact that translations account for two-thirds of their output. Drawing on interviews and a case study of children's literature imported from France, the research reported in this article identifies and analyses the criteria and mechanisms of book selection for translation with a view to expanding understanding of the role of publishers in the literary translation event and their interactions with other actors in this process. The article explores also the impact of the studied publishers' literary imports on children's literature in Poland and, more generally, the role of the small, independent publishers as leaders of innovation in children's literature. In Descriptive Translation Studies and Beyond, Gideon Toury explains that the term 'translation process' may designate two things: a more narrowly defined cognitive translation act and a more broadly conceived sociological translation event (Toury 249). In the latter, the translation process has multiple stages; in the case of literary translation these begin with selecting a text for translation and end when a translated book enters the market. Given this understanding, the translation is a collective and dialogic process involving multiple actors (Buzelin, 'La traduction' 739). In the case of a literary translation, the publisher is one of these actors. By selecting texts for translation and publication, the publisher determines the

As educators are learning to relate whole language theory and philosophy to literature-based instruction, children’s books are finding their way into reading classrooms (Pace, 1991). Not only has literature-based instruction become a common theme in recent national conferences and journals in the field of reading but the use of literature has also been mandated in some places (English-Language Arts Framework for California Public Schools, 1987). Significantly more class room teachers are adopting children’s books for literacy instruction than previously (Harris, 1993).

Adaptations of Chinese works have been marketed to children in the U.S. since the 1840s. One may identify three main categories among Chinese children’s texts offered to English-speaking American readers: exemplary tales, folktales and episodes from Chinese history, and humorous stories of children’s experiences. This paper examines one case study within each category, arguing that the different kinds of texts available at different historical moments help to illuminate American understandings of China and its culture. In each case, narratives packaged for American readers reflect a vision of China tailored to the time and context of publication; the nature of that vision changes with the years but nonetheless consistently emphasizes the idea of family loyalty, particularly in a filial sense.

From the 1950s to 1990s, Taiwan published more than one thousand translated children's books that were indirect translations via Japanese rather than from their source languages, be them English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian, or others. However, almost none of the translators into Japanese were mentioned on the copyright pages of these books. This four-decade long unauthorized mass translation practice occurred as the result of myriad historical and political factors. Being a former colony of Japan from 1896 to 1945, Taiwan witnessed a generation educated in the language of the colonizer and subsequently better versed in Japanese than the Chinese language of the new postwar regime, despite most ancestors of the Taiwanese having originated in China. However, the new regime regarded the Japanese language as both stigma and threat, and put great effort into uprooting Japan's influence in Taiwan. This paper aims to describe the practice of "underground" indirect translation and argues that these Japanese-educated translators used their Japanese, an accidental heritage, to compromise the "uprooting Japan" program carried out by their new rulers.

Book production has traditionally focused on school-age children (4-6 for kindergarten and 6-12 for elementary), since the 2000s there has been a growing body of literature for babies and the first bebetecas (baby libraries) have appeared, offer- ing a meeting point for babies and books.