After 16 years of concentrating on picture books in translation, including multiple Batchelder Award winners, Enchanted Lion Books is broadening its editorial scope with its inaugural middle grade list, debuting in June. The launch titles reflect the Brooklyn-based indie house’s ongoing dedication to authors and illustrators from various countries and its commitment to eclectic stories and lavish graphic content.
“Our translated middle-grade books are rich with illustrations, windows into the text and the first thing the eye gravitates towards when we turn the page,” explained publisher Claudia Zoe Bedrick, who founded Enchanted Lion in 2003 with her father Peter, mother Muriel, and sister Abigail. “Children who have enjoyed our picture books at an earlier age can now look forward to thoughtfully produced, illustrated early-reader and middle-grade fiction as they gain confidence as readers in their own right.” Especially since a number of authors and illustrators on her company’s picture-book backlist are now creating books for older readers as well, Bedrick added, “It makes so much sense to publish illustrated books for readers who [have grown up on] our picture books, and to share some of the wonderful middle grade books we’re seeing from other countries.”
Given her company’s global perspective, Bedrick observed that middle grade fiction from many foreign publishers is “more highly illustrated” than that originating domestically. “Publishers in other countries and cultures continue to give priority to illustration in books for independent readers in a way that we don’t in the United States,” she noted. “Kids here are pretty quickly pushed out of picture books once they become confident readers, as though picture books are things they should transcend. I’ve thought a lot about this assumption, which doesn’t seem to me to be valid. I would argue that we never age out of them, and that we’re always experiencing life through pictures.”
In addition to underscoring the role of art in its middle grade line, Enchanted Lion is emphasizing, as it does in its picture books, the importance of respecting kids’ intelligence and willingness to take on reading challenges. “One point that the legendary editor Ursula Nordstrom made in the late 1960s was that adult gatekeepers often don’t appreciate the fact that kids are creative, perceptive readers with unbiased minds, and they approach reading in an open way,” Bedrick said. “We publish books that have many layers, fully believing that a child is up to the task of exploring them.”
First Out of the Gate
The lineup of novels due from the publisher between June and October represents a rich cache of cultures, languages, and themes. A pair of June titles are series openers. The Adventures of Dumpster Dog starts up with Dumpster Dog!, which introduces a lazy, stinky, and kind underdog who always manages to land on his feet. Written by Colas Gutman, translated from the French by Allison M. Charette and Bedrick, and illustrated by Marc Boutavant, this early-reader series has sold more than one million copies in France and has been translated into five languages. And kicking off the My Alter Ego Is a Superhero trilogy is Brown by Håkon Øvreås, translated from the Norwegian by Kari Dickson, and illustrated by Øyvind Torseter. This middle-grade fantastical series about a boy coping with bullies and mourning the death of his grandfather has been sold into more than 30 languages. Black will follow in November, and Blue pubs in March 2020.
A third June release is Benny Lindelauf’s Fing’s War, translated from the Dutch by John Nieuwenhuitzen. In this follow-up to Nine Open Arms, the motherless Boon family navigates the changes that WWII brings to their town on the border of the Netherlands and Germany. Due in August is Snoozie, Sunny, and So-So by Dafna Ben-zvi, translated from the Hebrew by Annette Appel, and illustrated by Ofra Amit, a story about loneliness and the hope that new friendships bring, which stars two dogs and a cat.
In September, Enchanted Lion will bring out Do Fish Sleep? by Jens Raschke, translated from the German by Belinda Cooper, and illustrated by Jens Rassmus. The novel, which explores loss, memory, and a 10-year-old girl’s search for answers, was originally performed as an award-winning one-person play in Germany. And rounding out the fall roster is Gianni Rodari’s Telephone Tales, translated from the Italian by Anthony Shugaar, and illustrated by Valerio Vidali. In this book offering many stories within a story, a traveling father must finish nightly bedtime stories in the time that a single coin will buy on a pay phone.
Though all these launch titles are novels in translation, Bedrick said she will also consider publishing original illustrated middle-grade books in the future. “Something is awoken within us when we turn the page to an illustration, an immediate invocation of the imagination,” she noted. “Early-reader and middle-grade fiction honors the affinity we have for illustration and introduces an increasingly complex vocabulary to create a comprehensive and multi-dimensional reading experience. We believe people of all ages should be free to enjoy a beautiful book, and we are excited to move forward with readers as they grow.”
