Collection Spotlight: Youth World Languages

I love seeing our busy Kids & Family section during the summer! Each of our children’s collections has a special place in my heart. Some of my favorite nostalgic childhood reads are in the Picture Books & Board Books. I love the revival of classic series as new Graphic Novels. Nonfiction recalls many fond memories of school projects. And Media offers me options to watch all kinds of kids and family movies completely free with my library card.

I know much of the community already knows those shelves well, so today I want to spotlight one of our most underappreciated collections: the Youth World Languages section.

As the presenter for our weekly Spanish and English Storytime, I spend a lot of time thinking about, reading, and evaluating books that are a part of this collection so I can put forward the best possible program for our Spanish-speaking and Spanish-learning young patrons. I’ve compiled quite a few fun facts and favorite books so that you, too, can share multilingual and multicultural materials with your family. And who knows? Maybe you’ll find a new favorite!

CPL's Youth World Languages section.

What languages do you have?

You may have noticed the World Languages section before, but did you know it features books in more languages than just Spanish? We have circulating youth collections in Spanish, Russian, Arabic, French, Mandarin Chinese (options for traditional and simplified characters), and a few items featuring Braille text.

My First Board Book Under the Sea by Donovan Bixley features Maori vocabulary.

Many of these collections have books available in bilingual formats, too. The majority of our bilingual offerings are Spanish/English, but we also have a few bilingual Chinese/English, Arabic/English, and French/English books.

We even circulate a board book featuring vocabulary in Maori, an indigenous language of New Zealand!

What books do you have?

Le Petit Prince by Antione de Saint Exupéry is available at CPL in its original French.

Many classic children’s titles are available in translated Spanish versions, like La oruga muy hambrienta (The Very Hungry Caterpillar) by Eric Carle and Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) by J. K. Rowling.

We circulate some titles that have only ever been published in Spanish - so far! Try Instrucciones para convertirse en pirata by Erika Zepeda and Cinco ovejitas by Andrés and Ana Guerrero. We also circulate a copy of The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry in its original French: Le Petit Prince.

And many popular titles are most likely to be available in their Spanish version, since their English counterparts are so popular. If your readers are fluent enough in Spanish to read Dog Man / Hombre Perro, I Survived / Sobreviví, or Magic Tree House / La casa del árbol, you might have better luck finding those super-popular titles in Spanish on our World Languages shelves.

Erica's Recommendations

Bye Land, Bye Sea by René Spencer and Rodolfo Montalvo follows two characters who understand each other well despite their different backgrounds: a Spanish-speaking boy and an English-speaking girl who encounter each other, lost at sea. It is a great storytime pick for a fully-bilingual crowd.

Sisters, Rain Or Shine / Hermanas, llueva o truene by Nelly Buchet (translated by Mariana Llanos) is another one of my favorites. A bilingual edition of Buchet’s Big Sister, Long Coat, the story follows two sweet sisters around the city on an unexpectedly rainy day. As the big sister, I hope I can always be there for my little sister, come rain or shine.

Finally, I read Across So Many Seas / A través de los mares by Ruth Behar in English, but this lyrical multigenerational chapter book comes in Spanish as well. Spanning nearly 6 centuries, it tells the story of four girls from different generations of a Jewish family, from the Spanish Inquisition to modern Miami and making stops in Istanbul and the Cuban countryside on the way.

Bye Land, Bye Sea by René Spencer and Rodolfo Montavo is a great storytime choice for a Spanish & English bilingual group.