Doris Gebel

Annotation: A reference source with reviews on books from or focused on countries outside of the United States.

Review: Crossing Boundaries with Children’s Books is the newest in a series of three books promoting multicultural literature for children sponsored by The United States Board on Books for Young People (USBBY). This book covers over 700 books from 73 countries with an emphasis on books published in 2000-2004 as the other books in the series focus on earlier publishing ranges. The book is organized into three sections: essays, bibliographies and resources. The bibliographies are organized by region and then further divided by countries, which is useful if one is looking for recommended books on a geographic area rather than just a specific country. Included for review are books from the English speaking countries along with translations of books from other countries. Each book recommended is annotated and includes a notation on the appropriate age level as well as the genre of book, i.e. picture book, novel, informational book, etc. The resource section gives useful information on international publishers, international children’s book awards, and resources for finding foreign language and bi-lingual books. For librarians wishing to gain knowledge of and recommend multicultural literature, Crossing Boundaries is a valuable resource. It is easy to use, has a thorough scope, is relatively current and is a great aid for reader’s advisory.

Citations: Both reviewers covered the helpful aspects of the book detailed above. One note by the Booklist review is that this specific volume’s focus is on translation, which is an aspect that makes this reference stand out. The reviews comment that this book is a great collection development resource, yet I feel its ease of use and scope makes Crossing Boundaries a great resource for reader’s advisory as well.

Booklist 103.9-10 (Jan 1, 2007): 150(1)

School Library Journal 53.1 (Jan 2007): 168(1)… (meer)