Going Global with Translated Board Books

Naturally, the first idea I had was to search for Taro Gomi of Everyone Poops fame and was delighted to find that he has many board books translated into English, in addition to his book about poo. I love the illustrations of his little anthropomorphic boat and the challenges it encounters. Of course, there are also similar titles like Little Truck and Bus Stops if you like this. However, I couldn’t easily find a translator for Little Boat or for many of his other titles, a practice I find very frustrating. Translators should be given their fair share of credit for bringing this work to an (in this case, English-speaking) audience. In respect for that, I have listed a translator for each book whenever possible.

Looking at the cover for this one, I thought why does the little mole have such a strange looking hairpiece on? And now that I’ve read it, well, I understand that his head is not covered in a wig. It is covered in excrement and that is pretty funny, I can’t lie. After finding this unfortunate surprise on his head, the little mole goes on a mission to find out who did it, with the conviction that he will exact his revenge when he finds out. As you can imagine, there is a lot of poop depicted in this one. Either that will work for you or you’ll want to skip this in favor of something less, well, excrement-focused, shall we say?

For this one, you should turn the book so the title is readable. Then start reading and I imagine you will be just as charmed as I was by the adorable illustrations of various animals jumping on every page. If you’re reading this to small humans, I think they will all want to jump too.

If you’re looking for some nonfiction, this title and the one that follows may be of interest. This one is part of a series called “Turn Seek Find” and allows little readers to turn the built-in page wheels and search for elements in the text’s illustrations. There is also one called Turn Seek Find Seasons by Philip Giordano.

This book focuses on the human body and provides little and big readers with tabs that they can push and pull to reveal more in the text. If you enjoy this, you might also try Babin’s Baby Animals (Play Tabs).

Mr. Lion is in search of a new hairstyle and his friend Monkey is … sort of helping. Monkey keeps making suggestions and then giggling at the results. The book is translated from German by Wendeline A. Hardenberg who has quite a few children’s titles to her credit. If you like this one, look for some of Hardenberg’s other translations like Little Bug on the Move and Super Mazes in Space.

Apparently these funny little creatures called “Moi” were designed in a lab and tested on babies. The resulting designs captivated their little fans for much longer than other ones, hence their publication in the book. While obviously no longer a baby, I found them rather mesmerizing so I think it’s worth a shot to see if your tiny humans also take to them.

This might be my favorite book on the list (shhh, don’t tell the other ones!). I found the illustrations so charming and the enthusiasm of the little main character (and the obvious lack of enthusiasm on the part of her Mom) to be so charming. And of course, I was rather proud of myself when I guessed that one of the things she was shaping herself into was an onigiri. The ending is pretty darn perfect in my opinion. Definitely try this one out if you can get your paws on a copy.

Okay so maybe this one is my favorite. Wait, you read what I wrote above? Fine, then this is one of my favorites, how is that? The little blue monster Lulu demands whatever she wants. It’s up to her loving big red monster to tell her the hard truth that she can’t have everything she wants right now. If you like this, try some of Gravel’s other lovely titles like You Can Be or I am Scary.