These picture books published by Transit were all translated from Spanish, and each defied my expectations.
Ashimpa: The Mysterious Word by Catarina Sobral. Translated by Juliana Barbassa. Transit Children’s Editions, 2025. 9798893380026.
I’m sure that any book that opens with a researcher making a di
scovery, in a book of all places — in this case, finding the long-lost word “ashimpa” — is going to be a hit with the library crowd. As people start using it, and then arguing about how to use it, “ashimpa” goes from a verb to a noun and on and on, getting kids to think about how we use different types of words. My favorite thing: Sobral’s illustrations are totally ashimpish!
A Sleepless Night by Michaela Chirif and Joaquín Camp. Translated by Jordan Landsman. Transit Children’s Editions, 2024. 9798893389050.
This book had me from the title page, which features animals dressed as fruit, dancing. In the book, Elisa won’t stop crying, and it disturbs everyone, even people on the other side of the planet. Nothing can get her to stop. Everyone is exhausted. (Minor spoiler: then grandma arrives!) My wife claims she saw the surprise ending coming a mile away and refuses to believe I didn’t.
Giant on the Shore by Alfonso Ochoa and Andrés López. Translated from Spanish by Shook. Transit Children’s Editions, 2024. 9781945492877.
The illustrations are beautiful, and the story is melancholy; it’s about an invisible giant that does not come ashore, and that does not have a story written about it.
