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world
through
picture
books
Foreword
By Viviana Quiñones
Chair, IFLA Section Libraries
for Children and Young Adults
viviana.quinones@bnf.fr
We are very happy to publish the second edition of The World through Picture Books, enriched
with sixteen new annotated lists. This new edition proves even more the very enthusiastic,
skilled participation of librarians and the great success of this international programme.
The programme deals with something we children’s librarians must never lose sight
of, even if we are so busy with new technologies, budget restrictions, everyday work…:
read children’s books and choose the best ones for our readers. And what does “best” mean?
One thing it surely means is very good books from the readers’ own country and from as many
other countries as possible… This is why, inspired by Kazuko Yoda’s request to our Committee
for advice on the” top ten” picture books in Committee members’ countries, we launched
“The World through Picture Books” programme in 2011.
Librarians from fifty-two countries (or parts of countries) have made their choices which we
publish here, with book presentations in the thirty-seven languages of publication, together
with the English translation. Papers on picture books in several countries were presented
at IFLA conferences in Helsinki, Singapore and Lyon and are on-line. Thanks to publishers’
generosity, two sets of touring book exhibitions were made, that have been shown in Finland,
Japan, Korea, Italy, France, Reunion Island and Serbia. These collections are based in the
National Libraries of France and Japan and are available to be booked by any country wishing
to exhibit them.
We wish to warmly thank all country co-ordinators and all children’s librarians in all the
countries that have worked for this programme: it is their participation that makes it valuable.
We also wish to thank Annie Everall for the hard co-ordination work she has done and finally,
our thanks to all publishers, who made the exhibitions possible.
The programme has allowed for librarians in each country to work together, to reflect on their
own book creation and to share it with the world and on the other hand, to discover other
cultures through the infinite richness of picture book publishing. The World through Picture
Books celebrates bibliodiversity and language diversity. Children’s literature is a treasure for
young and not so young people. Some countries’ best books are very well known, but those
from most countries are not… We hope these lists of favourites from all continents will allow
for many happy new readings all over the world.
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