From: Ginny Moore Kruse <gmkruse>
Date: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 16:35:24 -0600

The Mildred Batchelder Award process honors the American publishers of outstanding books first published in English language translations in the U.S.
  Congratulations to Arthur A. Levine Books for publishing "An Innocent Soldier," the 2006 Batchelder Award winner by Josef Holub and translated from the German by Michael Hofmann. Congratulations as well to Bloomsbury Books for publishing one of this year's two Honor Books, "When I Was A Soldier" by Val?rie Zenatti and translated from the French by Adriana Hunter.
  Phaidron Press Limited is the other Batchelder Honor Book publisher this year. Phaidron is being honored for arranging with Anthea Bell to translate "Nicholas" into English for the first time from the stories written in French by Ren? Goscinny and accompanied by artwork by Jean-Jacques Semp?. Goscinny's character Nicholas first appeared in France during the 1950's in "picture strips" and subsequently in stories. The book "Nicholas" was first published in France in 1960 and recently reissued there in a new edition. Bell's translation is smooth and doesn't draw attention to itself. Semp?'s bxw line drawings add to each story's appeal.
  My friend Ronnie has lived and worked in France at various times, most recently a year ago while teaching middle school children there. Ronnie says that Goscinny's Asterix books are "beloved, part of the French cultural history and tapestry." She refers to Goscinny and Semp? as "icons" in France.
  When some American family members, friends and teachers of elementary school-age children notice Goscinny's name on the English language edition of "Nicholas," they might remember the Asterix books. Others might have name recognition for Semp?, a creator of cartoons for the New Yorker and Paris Match. Adults with no other connection to "Nicholas" might be drawn to this Batchelder book because it has a sticker on it, or because it's composed of short, linked fictional episodes, each one being a story to consider reading aloud at home or in a classroom.
  I'm so pleased to see that the Batchelder Committee has once again honored the publisher of a light-hearted book from another nation. Humor is so difficult to write in any language, and the translation of written humor can be a dicey project. It will require little effort for young English language readers to become acquainted with Nicholas and the boys who are his high energy, mischievous classmates. For example, there's Geoffrey (his dad is very rich), Cuthbert (he's at the top of the class academically); and Alec (this boy is usually munching on a snack). And there are others, too. Family characters, neighbors and occasional visitors to Nicholas's home also figure into some of the stories, but it's Nicholas and the schoolboys as they experience one fracas or another who become familiar. Nicholas and his friends frequently bicker as they play, and yet nothing quells the spunk of Nicholas, the narrator and center of each escapade. At one point while they boys revive a previous cowboy scenario, they squabble
 about which of them will ride the white horse. By the way, they're arguing over an imaginary horse, but that particular imaginary white one really matters one afternoon.
  In a way "Nicholas" reminds me of two of my all-time absolutely favorite Batchelder novels for younger children: the French "A Book of Coupons" by Susie Morgenstern (a 2002 Batchelder Honor Book translated by Gill Rosner for Viking) and the Swedish "If You Didn't Have Me" by Ulf Nilsson (a 1988 Batchelder winner translated for McElderry Books by Lone Thygesen Blecher & George Blecher). All three are light-hearted books with linked chapters and bxw line drawings. And they each have exuberant, naive young characters who overcome predicaments, not problems. Well, their predicaments are problems to these characters at the time, but they're never problems as grave as those in many children's novels published here. Each book offers its own charm to certain young readers and their families. Even so - for me, Nicholas and his cohorts exist within a time warp, and to a certain extent, so do the characters in my two other faves.
  Ronnie observes that a time warp "might be part of the continued appeal [of "Nicholas"], even for the French." While she was in France a year ago, Ronnie noted "quite a few books being published for adults that revisit 1950's (and earlier) schooling. There always seems to be a nostalgia for a (perceived) more 'innocent' time, especially in the midst of social and political change. But I also think that French children ARE different today despite the strong, inescapable infusion of American culture into their lives...'Le Petit Nicolas' is regularly assigned in middle school (probably the lower grades)."
  Perhaps Ronnie is correct. The turmoil of recent years causes many adults to long for what's perceived to have been a more innocent time. Can - or will - today's children grow to love and later remember the Nicholas stories, "A Book of Coupons" and "If You Didn't Have Me?" I truly hope so. If you've also had a chance to read "Nicholas," what do you think?
  A classic work in another nation is one type of translated book so necessary to publish in this country and - if it's as expert a translation as those achieved by Bell, Rosner and the Blechers - to honor through the Batchelder process. Why not have the opportunity to enjoy the Nicholas stories so beloved by many French families over several generations? Enjoying the light-hearted stories already discovered by some of the children in other nations is a way of affirming one aspect of the global village honored annually through the Batchelder Award process.
  American readers acquainted with "Nicholas" for one reason or another will be delighted to know that another Nicholas book is on the way. Perhaps someone associated with Phaidon will tell us when it will be published here. Meanwhile, who wants to speculate about why it took so long for the Nicholas stories so familiar in France to travel in English to the U.S.?
  Cordially, Ginny
 

 
 
 

Ginny Moore Kruse gmkruse at education.wisc.edu
 
 
Received on Sun 05 Mar 2006 04:35:24 PM CST