Sabine Little - Editorial Expert

While Sam Winston’s One & Everything may not be a “multilingual picturebook” in the way one might expect, it is a beautiful homage to linguistic and cultural diversity. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie famously spoke about the “danger of a single story”, and Sam Winston’s beautiful book shows that danger manifesting itself in a literal, yet subtle sense. The book begins with the words “Once there were many stories for the world”, before introducing the “one” story, who wanted to take over all other stories, gobbling them up. The book ... View Full Review

This book is a bit of a classic in multilingual circles. Bilingual in English and French, with interspersed words in Lingala, and additional audio in Arabic, Kinyarwanda, Suaheli and Portuguese, Kende! Kende! Kende! (“Go!” in Lingala) tells the story of Lolie and her journey as a refugee from an unnamed African country (although the author in the afterword explains that it is the Democratic Republic of the Congo in her mind). After several years in a refugee camp, Lolie and her family arrive in a new country that they make their home. Stuck in the snow with a ... View Full Review

This book is a gem when it comes to helping people understand what it is like growing up bilingual. Sami uses both his languages - Spanish and English - to express himself. This, to him, feels most authentic, even when there are occasions, like when he is with friends, where the people around him don’t follow his words exactly. But his translanguaging gets him in trouble at school, where the teacher is looking to assess his English, and with his abuelita, who thinks he should speak exclusively Spanish at home (and exclusively English at school). But this separation ... View Full Review

Angie’s reality in the book is one shared by many children who grow up multilingual – on a daily basis, she is the go-between her Dad, who speaks Cantonese, and the English-speaking society around them. Being an entrepreneurial soul, Angie decides to turn her translation skills into a business, translating signs for other members of the community, which gets her into trouble when she gets it wrong – and it turns out that her Dad’s language skills are the very things she needs! This books is a lovely homage to the lives of many children the ... View Full Review

This book is a little gem – starting with “there are 11 words for love, and my family knows them all”, each spread introduces a different word, in Arabic and with pronunciation, and a short two-liner that explains context. Whether the love between long-standing neighbours, the love between two soulmates, or a love for the home country, the book introduces each with colourful chalk illustrations. On a second level, the book highlights the family’s journey – arriving in a new country carrying little apart from a suitcase full of love. On the next spread, a “welcome ... View Full Review

I found this book in Australia, but I hope the review will still be of interest to people, because this is a lovely book, that deserves wider recognition. Each double-spread has a simple four-letter verse in English, describing a child’s life around the world, with the final word being the word for Dad in the language of the child. A simple premise, but by the end of the book, children have encountered 13 words for Dad, and the final few pages give cultural and linguistic context. The illustrations are cololourful and engaging, and the international spread of countries and ... View Full Review