(2) 4-6 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Mélie lives alone with her mother, Sofia, until one day they receive a phone call informing them that Sami (Mélie's father) will be released from prison. This is the first Mélie has ever heard about her father (she assumed she didn't have one). While it's never revealed where the family is from, it's clear Sami was a political prisoner; he was imprisoned for not keeping quiet. Mélie's excitement about her father is crushed once she realizes he doesn't speak her language and is a frail, odd man who seems uninterested in her. It also becomes evident that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder: he has frequent nightmares and refuses to leave the apartment. "He's come out of prison, but the prison has not come out of him." When Mélie takes in a stray kitten, it has a soothing effect on her father's jangled nerves and acts as a bridge between them. Mélie tries to teach him her language, while using the kitten to "tame" her papa into being a more engaged parent. This compact novel excels in its portrayal of a young girl's complicated feelings toward her father, as best portrayed in a series of moving vignettes that expertly shows, rather than tells, the reader what trauma does to a family system.

Reviewer: Julie Hakim Azzam | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2024

(2) K-3 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Illustrated by Nathalie Dion. "He didn't need to huff or puff or blow the house down...The big bad wolf just walked in the door." With this chilling opening, a young girl describes the abuse she and her mother suffer at the hands of her mother's new partner. Pictured as a fairy-tale "big bad wolf" who stands on two feet and casts a menacing shadow, the abuser berates the mother when she is late, leaves bruises on the narrator's arm that she must hide with long sleeves, and enters the child's bedroom without her permission. "He paid no attention to a barrier made of wood." So the girl "built a fort made of bricks. I put it up around my heart," and she protects herself thus until the day she and her mother escape to a shelter for abused women and children. There, "the big bad wolf can huff and puff all he wants. This house will not fall down." The familiar folkloric language and motifs work brilliantly to describe a terrifying, but ultimately hopeful, story of domestic violence. The illustrations effectively convey a child's point of view. The wolf, for example, takes up more visual space than either the child or her mother. When the wolf is "spitting mad" and yelling at the child's mother, his large dark shape curves and looms over her, blocking any escape. Still, as difficult as the content is, a gentle palette of cream and yellow, with accents of red, gives the reader some respite and foreshadows the hopeful ending. A skillfully crafted, emotionally honest treatment of a very challenging subject.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2021

(2) 1-3 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Könnecke's (Anton Can Do Magic, rev. 1/12; You Can Do It, Bert, rev. 3/15) drolly illustrated early chapter book stars Dulcinea, a girl who loves blueberry pancakes and her father. Elements from fairy tales--a magical transformation, a witch, monsters, a perilous journey, an impervious castle, a clever heroine, a book of spells, even a woodcutter--infuse this original story. Könnecke adds his own unique touches: the story takes place on Dulcinea's birthday, so there are balloons, which pop on the thorns surrounding the witch's castle; the witch is an absolutely hideous singer; Dulcinea's sidekick is a (barely mentioned in the text) white duck. The love Dulcinea feels for her father underlies the whole plot, making this more reminiscent of Steig's Sylvester and the Magic Pebble or Brave Irene than something out of Grimm. Profuse line and wash illustrations, in a minimal palette of light oranges and browns, set the scene and capture atmosphere and personalities beautifully, from the egomaniacal witch to Dulcinea's sweet father--whether as a human or a tree.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2021

(1) 4-6 Adapted by Shelley Tanaka. Translated by Shelley Tanaka. "We have such a strong connection to weather, we can't help but wonder about it." Teckentrup's words and illustrations embody this connection, modeling curiosity and wonderment. Moody, textured images play with the relationships among art, nature, and light to explore the nuances of weather phenomena. The details encourage both careful, continuous observation and appreciation for the endless varieties of weather. Glos.

Reviewer: Danielle J. Ford | Horn Book Magazine Issue: July, 2018

(3) 4-6 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Illustrated by Nora Tomm. Translated from the German, this is a highly visual introduction to Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. After a general overview on religion, each short chapter includes three double-page spreads: a written description of the individual religion; a colorful double-spread scene incorporating many practices and rituals (and sometimes many different countries); and a key to the detailed illustration explaining ceremonies, practices, symbols, and more.

Reviewer: Melinda Greenblatt

(4) 4-6 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Illustrated by Rogé. In lengthy picture-book format, an enigmatic, poetic tale of grief is illustrated with nearly colorless mixed-media drawings. Hoping to impress her grief-mired grandfather after the loss of his wife, a young woman wins a contest to fly to the moon. At first thrilled with the trip, she soon feels empty, ejects herself, and parachutes down to her grandfather's awaiting car. Odd but moving.

Reviewer: Grace Worcester Greene

(3) K-3 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. A human child in a family of ravens fails to realize that she doesn't resemble her siblings until some birds point it out. She fleetingly attempts to look the part but ultimately embraces her identity: "'I am Rosie the Raven!' I squawked, nice and loud." This clever adoption and self-acceptance story features sophisticated art, occasionally in frame-like panels.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) 1-3 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. This profoundly odd and unexpected little story, with its thick-black-lined and angular mixed-media illustrations, centers on a fox driven to a life of crime because of his (literal) appetite for books. Translated from the German, the text includes a surprising level of detail and subtle humor about the fox's visits to a library and bookstore, his prison stay, and his rise to fame.

Reviewer: Miriam Steinberg-Egeth

(3) YA Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Over the course of a year, Charlotte's parents divorce, and the fifteen-year-old tries to make sense of her own complex emotions about the very human messiness of love. There is a lot to like in this slim Austria-set German import, including a strong main character, a great supporting cast, and the raw emotions of high school.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(3) PS Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Joyfully narrating the seasons, a round-faced little boy and his cat are at the center of a dozen short poems that distill the essence of each month. Touching upon the natural world as revealed in childhood pastimes, each poem uses simple and lovely imagery: "The water tickles my hair" while swimming in July, for instance. Feathery-soft colored-pencil illustrations have a nostalgic quality.

Reviewer: Rebecca Reed Whidden

(3) PS Translated by Shelley Tanaka. It's naptime, but none of the savannah animals is sleepy--that is, until a small girl tricks them into simply shutting their eyes. The book's wide, horizontal orientation suggests the act of lying down, while bold colors evoke sunset on the horizon. Spare text emphasizes the animals' stubbornness, inviting anyone familiar with the trials of naptime to delight in this short, clever story.

Reviewer: Lauren Rizzuto

(3) 1-3 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Like the Hatfields and McCoys, the Hound and Hare families don't like each other (nobody remembers why). When Harley Hare and Hugo Hound sneak out to participate in the Big Race--then get caught in a storm--barriers are broken and new bonds forged. The story, featuring childlike colored-pencil and ink illustrations and some funny one-liners, is generally light on didacticism.

Reviewer: Susan Halperin

(2) 4-6 Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Berner presents eight cartoon-strip versions of Grimm stories. Straightforward, pared-down translations with mild demotic touches (e.g., Rapunzel's rueful complaint, "Oh, brother, not again") are accompanied by sometimes cheeky drawings of a folktale world featuring wishing wells and wolves and hedgehogs playing bagpipes. The format works perfectly with the material; this would be a fine first Grimm for the older elementary-school crowd.

Reviewer: Sarah Ellis | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2010

(3) YA Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Emma is only five years old when she witnesses her mother's murder during the Rwandan genocide. In this poignant story of loss and courage, Emma faces haunting memories while struggling to obey her mother's last wish: "Tell yourself...that everything will soon be over. You must not die, Emma." An appended author's note gives further context.

Reviewer: Laura A. Woollett

(2) YA Translated by Shelley Tanaka. Fifteen-year-old Miriam is bored to death in her small German town. Then she starts hanging out with Laura, sorting through a (mutual) attraction, and wondering what it means to love another girl. Very European in its spare style and nonchalant depictions of drinking and drug use, Bach's nuanced portrait of small-town ennui is a fresh, detail-driven approach to a journey of self-awakening.

Reviewer: Claire E. Gross | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2008