nternational children’s and young adult books matter, and publishers, teachers,
and parents in the United States and Canada should be paying much more
attention to them.
Between the United States and Canada, approximately 6,000 books a year for
children and young adults come into the market. Among them are some of the best
books in the world. Thus, young people in these two countries are fortunate to
have access to works of such high literary quality, appeal, and lasting impact.
Why, then, should we care about books from other countries? This is a
question that calls for adults who serve as gatekeepers to what children read to
consider their roles in introducing works to children. And it is a question of what
our hopes and aims are for children’s literate and global lives.
International books are those originally published outside of the United States
and Canada and, if necessary, are translated from the original language. These
By Junko Yokota & William Teale
Why we all need access to more literature
from around the world
Junko Yokota
(junko.yokota@mac.com),
an ILA member since 1983,
is a professor emerita of
reading and language at
National Louis University
in Illinois, and the director
of the Center for Teaching
Through Children’s Books.
William Teale
(wteale@uic.edu) is a
professor in the Literacy,
Language & Culture
Program at the University
of Illinois at Chicago and
the director of the UIC
Center for Literacy. He is
president-elect of ILA’s
Board of Directors.
INTERNATIONAL
BOOKS MATTER
OUR VIEW
6
May/June 2016 | LITERACY TODAY