By Ben & Maureen, 7 November 2021

When the children were younger, they’d play a game using Google Translate to translate a piece of text from say, English to Chinese, and then translate the resulting Chinese text back into English again. The ultimate translation was usually so different from the original version that it would illicit hoots of laughter and we’d shake our heads at the limitations of Google Translate. I’m reminded of these limitations whenever I read a translated work of literature where I have working knowledge of the original language in which it was written, like Sachiko Kashiwaba’s Temple Alley Summer, a middle-grade, fantasy-mystery novel that I recently shared with my non-Japanese speaking son. Even though I have never set eyes on the original, as we read the English version, I could imagine hearing the words of the original work, like lilting musical notes in the background. The feel, the “imi” (meaning) of the work, was distinctly Japanese, and I attribute this accomplishment to the masterful translation by Avery Fischer Udagawa, who is no stranger to Kashiwaba’s writings. Thanks to her, my 11-year-old is also no longer a stranger to Kashiwaba’s imaginative stories either.

By Ben and Maureen, 3 October 2021

As the summer winds down, Ben and I read a thought-provoking, middle-grade novel that neither of us have read before. Skellig, by the prolific British author, David Almond, has been on my To Be Read list for some time now. I ask Ben – now a newly-minted 11-year-old – what he thinks of it.

By Maureen Tai, 19 September 2021

Continuing with World Kid Lit month celebrations, I decided to read the classic Emil and the Detectives, (ages 10+) a middle-grade chapter book about a highly-principled country boy turned intrepid thief-catcher. Translated from German by Eileen Hall, this entertaining story was published almost a century ago, in 1928, by Erich Kästner. The German author had the honour of seeing his books burned by the Nazis during WW2 for being “anti-German.” Thankfully, I failed to identify any “anti-anything” in this humorous and engaging detective story – save a comment by Pony, the only girl to make an appearance, that “Woman’s work is never done” (referring to housework). Yet, this didn’t make Pony any less strong or feisty, nor were any of Kästner’s characters any less interesting, nor did it distract from the central theme underpinning the entire adventure – the enduring, selfless relationship between a devoted mother and her thoughtful child. And that love, we know, always endures. Happy World Kid Lit month!

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!