During the late afternoon on chilly, rainy April 2, Alexander Library was filled with the joyful sounds of Arabic, Hebrew, Italian, Mandarin, Mongolian, Spanish and Catalan, and Ukrainian, as presenters read international children’s books in their original languages, and performers presented and danced for the 110 guests who attended the Rutgers International Children’s Book Day in person or virtually.
This year, The International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY.org), the non-profit organization that launched the first International Children’s Book Day in 1967, named IBBY Japan as the official sponsor of the event. “Imagination is the key word for ICBD 2024,” IBBY Japan wrote, because, “JBBY believes that fostering imagination will lead to mutual understanding and a spirit of tolerance.”
For the first time, the annual Rutgers celebration included performances as well as readings. The Rutgers undergraduate Chinese dance troupe performed, and Tara McGowen, Ph.D., performed the Japanese story art of Kamishibai. The well-known librarian and blogger Betsy Bird virtually presented the best of international picture books.
SC&I Interim Dean Dafna Lemish, who participated by reading a children’s book in Hebrew, said, “I want to thank Marc Aronson for once again initiating, leading, and organizing an inspiring event celebrating International Children’s Books Day at Alexander library. Some 12 faculty and students from across the campus read stories in a variety of languages from around the world, introducing us to the ‘voices of the world’ and ‘expanding ourselves’ (quoting Marc’s opening words). From our school, Lilia Pavlosky beautifully performed a traditional Ukrainian story about a lost mitten in the woods, and I read a Hebrew story of a girl imagining a peaceful solution to wars in Israel. At a time when there is so much division, hate, violence, and grief around us, focusing on books that socialize children to human values and a better world for all brings so much hope and inspiration. It was a wonderful event!”
At a time when there is so much division, hate, violence, and grief around us, focusing on books that socialize children to human values and a better world for all brings so much hope and inspiration. It was a wonderful event!” – SC&I Interim Dean Dafna Lemish
SC&I Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Marc Aronson said he was originally inspired to organize the event for several reasons. “For one, it brings together the many parts of our Rutgers community who focus on language, culture, youth, books, art and design, story, media, translation, education throughout the university. It is such a thrill to discover other scholars, graduate students, undergraduates doing such rich and engaging work – which overlaps with my interests in training librarians in international youth literature. I see opportunities for collaboration, partnership – growth. But, also, we have the ever-expanding collection of over 1,000 books in our own International Youth Literature Collection at Alexander, I want more and more people to know about it, use it, explore it, advise us on what they would like to see included in it.”
The event brought together several departments within Rutgers including the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, the Language Engagement Project, and language faculty including professors of Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese. The translation department was also involved in the event.
Professor Marcy Schwartz, in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the School of Arts and Sciences, said, “The International Children's Book celebration at the library was an inspiring occasion! Hearing stories and poems in so many languages and learning about storytelling traditions from around the world was truly enriching. I brought the students from my undergraduate class Introduction to Hispanic Literature, and they enjoyed every minute. In this course we cover literature from all over the Spanish-speaking world, and significant units in the course were devoted to the short story and to poetry. While it is not a course on children's or youth literature, it's been important to me to show them how literature is part of all kinds of experiences and traditions outside the classroom. The creativity of the folktales, poems, books, puppets, books exhibited, and dance presented at the event helped underscore that literature belongs to everyone and is part of our lives.”
Aronson kicked off the event by welcoming the attendees. He said, “. . . the flow of so many different, beautiful, exciting languages creates a bath of beauty – the sound of the world’s voices. I am a great fan of internationalism, which gets a bad rap in these divided ideological times. It is easy to see the concept as soft, fuzzy good wishes with no power. But I see internationalism as both an opportunity to see connections with others unlike ourselves and a challenge – to expand ourselves by recognizing real differences. The Celebration gives us both – from Hebrew and Arabic stories that unexpectedly connect to Mongolian stories that allow us to stretch, to see a world in a new way. No brief event will have a lasting impact on all of the audience but I hope at least some will be engaged, curious, eager to learn and share more. I hope many come to use the IYLC, which is filled with eye and mind-expanding books.”
Professor Marcy Schwartz, in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, said, “The International Children's Book celebration at the library was an inspiring occasion! Hearing stories and poems in so many languages and learning about storytelling traditions from around the world was truly enriching.
At the end of the live readings and performances, SC&I alumna Samantha Bremecamp MI’16, a former student of Aronson’s, announced the winner of the 2024 GLLI YA Book Prize. First place went to the book “Smash the Patriarchy” by Marta Breen and Jenny Jordahl and translated from Norwegian by Siân Mackie (Helvetiq/2023). This year the GLLI committee also chose two “honor” books: “The Bodyguard Unit” by Clément Xavier (text), Lisa Lugrin (art) and Albertine Ralenti (coloring). Translated from French by Edward Gauvin (Graphic Universe/2023); and “The Boy from Clearwater” by Yu Pei-Yun and Zhou Jian-Xin, translated from Hoklo Taiwanese, Mandarin Chinese, and Japanese by Lin King (Levine Querido/2023).
There were several changes to this year’s celebration, Aronson said, and one was involving undergraduate students for the first time. “We had never explicitly sought out undergraduates, in part because during COVID the event was primarily or entirely online, and so we reached out to people who already were engaged with international languages and/or youth literature.”
A second change this year was hosting the event in The Hatchery in Alexander Library, which provided more space for the performers and book displays.
Looking ahead to future ICBD celebrations, Aronson said, “We want the event to keep growing – eventually to be out in the open in the daytime, so families from local communities can come, and we can have booths with readings in different languages – or maybe at the Zimmerli Art Museum as they have a dedicated gallery that focuses on children's book illustration. This year we had Chinese dance, and in the future, we look forward to including music, singing, and more dance – there are so many cultural expressions that take place here at Rutgers that link to children, books, art, culture.”
Learn more about the Library and Information Science Department on the Rutgers School of Communication and Information website.
Photos:
Banner: SC&I Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Marc Aronson welcomes the guests; top: SC&I Interim Dean Dafna Lemish reads in Hebrew; middle: Xiaowen Qiu, of the Rutgers Graduate School of Education, presents in Mandaran; bottom: SC&I Teaching Professor of Library and Information and Director of the Master of Information Program Lilia Pavlovsky reads in Ukrainan.
