(MENAFN- The Conversation) The buzz around the newly announced Children's Booker has focused on its potential to“tell kids they matter”, as they get their own version of this prestigious literary prize. With children actually included in the judging process, the prize has the power to bring thousands more young people“into the wonderful world of reading,” in the words of children's laureate Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

As Cottrell-Boyce noted in an article for The Guardian, since its inception the Booker has expanded the audience of writers who might have been overlooked. And, as he notes, it has more importantly broadened the horizons of readers – especially since the launch of the International Booker in 2005. The Children's Booker will do much the same as it will explicitly include translated fiction.

The decision to include translated works represents a big step towards recognising the contribution that translation makes to children's literature. Who could deny the importance of Swedish heroine Pippi Longstocking or the French fairy tale Cinderella? Or the role of Japanese manga in encouraging young people to read?

Welcoming translations gives the prize the potential to show that books from different cultures and written in languages other than English are a valuable part of the British children's literary firmament. We hope that books in translation will regularly feature on the shortlist in the Children's Booker prize in 2027 and beyond.

To celebrate this decision, we asked experts from Outside In World and World Kid Lit to help us put together a list of outstanding children's books published in English translation since 2020. These are organisations, which have long campaigned to raise the profile of children's books from across the globe.

Here is our top five list of translated literature for the Children's Booker from the last five years.

1. Kiki's Delivery Service (Puffin, 2020).

Penguin Random House Children's UK

This Japanese classic by Eiko Kadano (first published in 1985) inspired the irresistible Studio Ghibli anime film of the same name.

English readers couldn't enjoy the original stories until 2020, when it was published by Puffin in a brilliant, bewitching and often very funny translation by Emily Balistrieri.

Ghibli fans will find much to love in these adventures of a young witch setting out into the world with her cat, Jiji.

Recommended by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp of World Kid Lit

2. The Táin: the Great Irish Battle Epic, written and translated from Irish by Alan Titley (Little Island 2023).

Little Island Books

This historical adventure, beautifully illustrated by Eoin Coveney, is an action-packed retelling of Ireland's most important myth, the story of the hero Cúchulainn and the Warrior Queen Maeve.

Nominated for the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Writing in 2024, this exciting tale is an example of how translations offer young English readers access to the other great literary languages of Great Britain and Ireland.

Recommended by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp of World Kid Lit

3. Sword of Fire by Federico Ivanier, translated from the Spanish by Claire Storey (Puffin, 2025).

Penguin Random House Children's UK

This lively fantasy adventure from Uruguay follows the journey of young heroine Martina Valiente as she battles the forces of Darkness in the fantastical world of Novrogod.

The first title from Latin America to be included in Puffin's prestigious modern classics list, this work is a great introduction to the world of acclaimed Uruguayan children's author Federico Ivanier.

Recommended by Emma Page of the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing

4. Na Willa and the House in the Alley by Reda Gaudiamo, translated by poets Ikhda Ayuning Maharsi Degoul and Kate Wakeling, and illustrated by Cecillia Hidaya. (Emma Press, 2023)

The Emma Press

This collection of mini-stories is based on Gaudiamo's memories of her childhood in Indonesia, and centres on the feisty and inquisitive heroine Na Willa.

The book gives a real insight into the everyday things of Na Willa's life, and its eye for fun details interests even reluctant readers, as this review detailing a nine-year old's amused response to the story about eating milkfish eyes suggests.

Recommended by Deborah Halford of Outside in World

5. Akissi: Even More Tales of Mischief by Marguerite Abouet, translated by Marie Bédrune and Judith Taboy (Flying Eye, 2020).

Flying Eye Books

The brightly-coloured mayhem of the Akissi series is a strong favourite on my university course in children's books, and anyone with young readers at home will know how popular gross-out, laugh-out-loud graphic novels are with eight to 12-year-olds.

Marguerite Abouet's stories are inspired by her own childhood in the Ivory Coast. Accompanied by Mathieu Sapin's frenetic drawings, they offer a joyful, messy, real vision of African life.

As one student put it:“I loved this book – it reminded me of my family's stories of life in Mauritius.”

Recommended by Sophie Heywood of the Centre for Book Cultures and Publishing

This article features references to books that have been included for editorial reasons, and may contain links to bookshop. If you click on one of the links and go on to buy something from bookshop The Conversation UK may earn a commission.

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