With the U.S. Census Bureau estimating that 12% of the 300 million Americans are foreign-born, and since many of them speak English as a second language, it's no surprise that children's booksellers are adding an even more extensive selection of foreign-language books to their shelves.

But it's not all just copies of Goodnight Moon and Where the Wild Things Are. "For many years, all you could get were translations of popular children's titles from English," said Beth Puffer of Bank Street Bookstore in New York City. "The new generation of immigrants want to keep their language in the family and want books from their original culture."

Sue Brody, owner of foreign-books distributor Kurtzman Book Sales Co. in Southfield, Mich., said this trend is especially strong at bookstores in university towns, and in cities where there are public immersion schools or strong French-American private schools. "If the parents are sending them to those types of schools, they want the real thing for their children," Brody said.

Demand is greatest for Spanish-language titles, since there are more than 40 million Hispanic-Americans in the United States, but there's a growing interest in books in a wide variety of other languages, from Gujarati to Turkish.

We spoke with children's booksellers around the country to see what's on their shelves and why.

Bank Street Bookstore in New York City

Bank Street stocks books in 20 languages, including Italian, Albanian, Bengali, Tamil, Chinese, Vietnamese, Urdu, Farsi and Portuguese.The Spanish-language section of the store has been among the fastest growing for many years and accounts for 1,000 titles that sell regularly. The store moved Spanish titles to the ground floor, which helped boost sales further.Bank Street holds story times in Spanish and French, advertises foreign-language titles in its newsletter and puts up window displays featuring foreign-language books, which helps bring in new customers."For the most part, it's a word-of-mouth business," said manager Beth Puffer. "When one person finds out you carry books in their language, they then go and tell their friends."

Linden Tree Children's Recordings and Books in Los Altos, Calif.

California is 35% Hispanic; the store stocks 800 titles in Spanish.Next bestsellers are French—200 titles in stock—and German—100 titles, some of which go to students from nearby Stanford University, as well as local immersion schools.Store also stocks titles in Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Hebrew, "which sell slowly, but sell," said co-owner Linda Ronberg.Ronberg said her biggest obstacle to selling more foreign-language books is "remembering to reorder the books when we sell out."Favorite titles are bilingual books from Children's Book Press.

Magic Tree Bookstore in OakPark, Ill.

Store has three shelves of foreign-language books in Filipino, Chinese, Gujarati, Farsi, Panjabi, Albanian, Somali, Polish, Swahili, Turkish, Arabic, as well as the usual Spanish, German and French.Most popular titles are classics in bilingual editions, such as The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round. Demand is greatest from teachers, who "can read a book in English while children can follow along in their own language,'' said co-owner Iris Yipp.Foreign-language books are actively promoted on the store's Web site, which has helped generate additional orders.Yipp recommends Mantra Lingua, a British company with U.S. distribution based out of Aurora, Ill. "They repackage U.K. books into bilingual editions. They're great, have a wide variety of titles and the books are very beautiful," Yipp said.

The Bookery in El Paso, Tex.

El Paso is 76% Hispanic, with the majority Mexican-American. Owner Margaret Barber said Spanish-language titles represent a "significant" percentage of her stock, which includes nonfiction, chapter books and board books in Spanish, with an emphasis on Latino culture.El Paso is a major crossing point into the U.S. from Mexico and draws illegal immigrants from across the globe. "I've gotten a lot of calls from shelters looking for books and dictionaries,'' Barber said. In response, she has added titles in Japanese, Chinese and Korean.Store also stocks French and German titles to cater to families of foreign soldiers who train at nearby Fort Bliss.Most unusual acquisition has been a smattering of books in Hmong requested by a visiting academic from Minnesota.