Publisher Preview: Transit Children’s Editions (Fall 2024)
It’s that time again!
Now you may be a touch unfamiliar with the publisher Transit Children’s Editions, and that is completely understandable. They’re still relatively new! An imprint of Transit Books (which has really only been around since 2015 itself), their focus is, “to inspire a younger generation to read beyond our borders, to bring joy and wonder, to challenge and excite, with a list that features a diversity of languages, perspectives, and literary approaches of the highest artistic quality.” Not too shabby, eh?
Here then are the three titles they have coming out this fall, and one title coming out in the winter of 2025. Take a gander and enjoy them all! I guarantee that they’re like nothing else you’ve read recently:
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Sleepless Night translated from the Spanish by Micaela Chirif, ill. Joaquin Camp, translated by Jordan Landsman (who is also a stand-up comedian).
ISBN: 9798893389050
Publication Date: September 24, 2024
Consider this a fun book to lead off the season. The story is narrated by an older sibling whose little sister just won’t stop crying. You know the kind of baby we mean. She cries all night which, in turn, ends up waking up the entire apartment block. To get some shut eye they all come to sooth her to keep her from crying. Finally, Grandma comes over the next morning and looks at the baby. She does the classic bicycle legs move with the babe, releasing, you’re reading this correctly, an enormous fart. No no. You don’t understand. When I say “enormous” we’re talking the kind of far that literally takes the apartment building all the way into space. If you’re a parent then you’ve been there, man. As Transit told me, this book marks their first venture into fartinalia. This is the fart book that managed to win this publisher over. The best way to describe the art is to say that it’s funny and fanciful. It’s a little bit of fun and a little bit of nonsense, and also a great book for older siblings.
A Day with Mousse by Claire Lebourg, translated by Sophie Lewis from French
ISBN: 9798893389067
Publication Date: October 8, 2024
Behold! An an early chapter book! This is the first in a series of four by Lebourg about this adorable little unidentifiable creature (a theme in her work) named Mousse. He’s a somewhat misanthropic guy who resides on a lovely little sandy beach. His favorite time of day is the morning and he sticks to a very detailed routine. Told in a gentle style, the reader watches as every day he has coffee, puts on his socks, and waits for the tide to literally come into his home. Why? Because with the tide comes the day’s treasures. You see Mousse apparently runs an Etsy shop where he can sell the things that wash up into his house. And everything is just going great until the day that a walrus washes in. Named Barnacle, the big guy sticks around and clearly wants to befriend Mousse. Mousse is, to say the least, not into this plan, but when Barnacle gets sick, the two develop a close friendship. Eventually Barnacle does take off, but don’t worry. In the end he returns with his wife and family of little walruses. Lebourg creates all these scenes in her gently humorous watercolor pen-and-ink style. As I mentioned, this is more in the early chapter book vein, but while it does share some Frog & Toad DNA, it is its own beastie entirely.
Like This by Claire Lebourg, translated by Sophie Lewis from French
ISBN: 9798893389029
Publication Date: November 12, 2024
Another entry into the Lebourgian Universe! But seriously, how can you resist her style? This book, coming out a little later in the season, is a story about a mother bird and her baby. The mama bird tells the little one what it was like when she was even littler than she is today. The end result is sweet but not overly sentimental. What sort of separates this from similar books that cover the same ground is that the little bird is growing up in the course of the book. In the end, she and her parents all fly off together. It’s a combo of beautiful watercolors and a lovely little telling.
Astro by Manuel Marsol, translated from the Spanish by Lizzie Davis
ISBN: 9798893389043
Publication Date: February 18, 2025
Believe it or not we’re ending today with a book coming out next year. It’s an odd one too. The kind of book that feels both different and new in ways that are special to Transit. I guarantee that nothing else for sale in American right now quite looks or feels like this book. In the story, a little astronaut touches down on a new planet and begins to explore. The astronaut, named Astro, then meets a strange, long-necked creature and the two immediately hit it off and strike up a friendship. They having an intergalactic blast, just the two of them. Unfortunately, and about halfway through the book, a large creature stomps on the long-necked creature “rendering it no longer alive”. Now what makes this all very interesting is that for the rest of the book, the action is narrating by that same deceased creature. We see the astronaut go through the stages of grief as he works through the loss of his friend. Certainly we’ve plenty of picture books on death, but books where death is seen from the p.o.v. of the deceased are particularly rare. This kind of telling has a pulled back view of the process. It de-centers it in a way that makes it palatable and allows for more conversation with kids while also taking some of the sentimentality out of it. You don’t feel the loss quite as acutely, but you still witness the astronaut’s grief. In a truly bold move, the book, clocking in at 64 pages, ends with 10-16 pages of wordless spreads. Astro ultimately decides that he has to move on with his mission, and the only way to move on is to leave this planet.
And that’s all there is! Thanks to the folks at Transit Editions for taking the time to show me their next season!
Filed under: Publisher Previews
About Betsy Bird
Betsy Bird is currently the Collection Development Manager of the Evanston Public Library system and a former Materials Specialist for New York Public Library. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of EPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.
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Judy Weymouth says
Absolutely, these are definitely NOT like anything I’ve read recently . . . or EVER! I’ve made note of all the publication dates. What a collection of creativity and fresh new ideas. I’m looking forward to experiencing each one.
Avery Fischer Udagawa says
Thank you for this! The Claire Lebourg titles are translated from the French, if you can pop that in there.
I love that the translator of the “fartinalia” is a stand-up comic!