Mildred L. Batchelder Award
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award, or Batchelder Award, is an American Library Association literary award that annually recognizes the publisher of the year's "most outstanding" children's book translated into English and published in the U.S.
The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is unusual in that it is given to a publisher yet it explicitly references a given work, its translator and author. It seeks to recognize translations of children's books into the English language, with the intention of encouraging American publishers to translate high quality foreign language children's books and "promote communication between the people of the world".
It is administered by the Association for Library Service to Children, the children's division of ALA, and conferred upon the U.S. publisher.
The award is named in honor of Mildred L. Batchelder, former director of the ALSC. One of her stated goals was "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages."
The Batchelder Award was inaugurated in 1968 and there have been 47 winners in 48 years through 2015.
From 1994 there have been 38 worthy runners-up called Honor Books, one to three each year.
The 2015 winner is Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, an imprint of William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., for Mikis and the Donkey, translated by Laura Watkinson. The Dutch original Mikis, de Ezeljongen was written by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman.
Mildred L. Batchelder
began her career working in an Omaha, Nebraska Public Library, then as a children's librarian at St. Cloud State Teachers College, and subsequently as librarian of Haven Elementary School in Evanston, Illinois. She eventually joined the ranks of the American Library Association in 1936 spending the next 30 years at the ALA promoting the translation of children's literature.Criteria
Source: "Batchelder Award terms and criteria"- The award shall be made to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country and subsequently published in English in the United States during the preceding year.
- The Award, in the form of a citation, shall be made annually, unless no book of that particular year is deemed worthy of the honor. The translation should be true to original work and retain the viewpoint of the author.
- The translation should reflect the style of the author and of the original language.
- The book should not be unduly "Americanized." The book's reader should be able to sense that the book came from another country.
- Folk literature is not eligible.
- Picture books are not eligible unless the text is substantial and at least as important as the pictures.
- The book must have the potential to appeal to a child audience.
- The overall design of the book should enhance and not detract from the text, thus making the book more or less effective as a children's book. Such aspects might include: illustration, type face, layout, book jacket, etc.
- Consideration should be given to the retention of the original illustrator's work in the U.S. edition.
Recipients
| Awarded Publisher | Title | Author | Translator | Language | ||
| 1968 | Alfred A. Knopf | German | W | |||
| 1969 | Charles Scribner's Sons | Don't Take Teddy | Norwegian | W | ||
| 1970 | Holt, Rinehart & Winston | Wildcat Under Glass | Greek | W | ||
| 1971 | Pantheon Books | In the Land of Ur, the Discovery of Ancient Mesopotamia | German | W | ||
| 1972 | Holt, Rinehart & Winston | Friedrich | German | W | ||
| 1973 | William Morrow | Pulga | Dutch | W | ||
| 1974 | E. P. Dutton | Petros' War | Greek | W | ||
| 1975 | Crown Publishing Group | Russian | W | |||
| 1976 | Henry Z. Walck | German | W | |||
| 1977 | Atheneum Press | Danish | W | |||
| 1978 | ||||||
| 1979 | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich | Rabbit Island | German | W | ||
| 1979 | Franklin Watts / Scholastic | Konrad | German | W | ||
| 1980 | E. P. Dutton | Greek | W | |||
| 1981 | William Morrow | Dutch | W | |||
| 1982 | Bradbury Press | Swedish | W | |||
| 1983 | Lothrop, Lee & Shepard | Hiroshima No Pika | Kurita-Bando Literary Agency | Japanese | W | |
| 1984 | Viking Press | Ronia the Robber's Daughter | Swedish | W | ||
| 1985 | Houghton Mifflin | Hebrew | W | |||
| 1986 | Creative Education | Rose Blanche | Italian | W | ||
| 1987 | Lothrop, Lee & Shepard | No Hero for the Kaiser | German | W | ||
| 1988 | McElderry Books | If You Didn't Have Me | Swedish | W | ||
| 1989 | Lothrop, Lee & Shepard | Crutches | German | W | ||
| 1990 | E. P. Dutton | Buster's World | Danish | W | ||
| 1991 | E. P. Dutton | German | W | |||
| 1992 | Houghton Mifflin | Hebrew | W | |||
| 1993 | ||||||
| 1994 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Spanish | W | |||
| 1994 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Dutch | hon | |||
| 1994 | Viking Press | Anne Frank Beyond the Diary: A Photographic Remembrance | Dutch | hon | ||
| 1995 | E.P. Dutton | Danish | W | |||
| 1995 | Lothrop, Lee & Shepard | Sister Shako and Kolo the Goat: Memories of My Childhood in Turkey | Turkish | hon | ||
| 1996 | Houghton Mifflin | Hebrew | W | |||
| 1996 | Henry Holt & Co | Damned Strong Love: The True Story of Willi G. And Stephan K. | German | hon | ||
| 1996 | Walker and Company | Star of Fear, Star of Hope | French | hon | ||
| 1997 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Japanese | W | |||
| 1998 | Henry Holt & Co | German | W | |||
| 1998 | Scholastic Press | Hostage to War: a True Story | German | hon | ||
| 1998 | Viking Press | Nero Corleone: a Cat's Story | German | hon | ||
| 1999 | Dial Press | Thanks to My Mother | German | W | ||
| 1999 | Viking Press | Secret Letters from 0 to 10 | French | hon | ||
| 2000 | Walker and Company | Dutch | W | |||
| 2000 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Collector of Moments | German | hon | ||
| 2000 | Rabén & Sjögren | Vendela in Venice | Swedish | hon | ||
| 2000 | Front Street | Asphalt Angels | Dutch | hon | ||
| 2001 | Arthur A. Levine Books / Scholastic | Samir and Yonatan | Hebrew | W | ||
| 2001 | David R. Godine | Ultimate Game | French | hon | ||
| 2002 | Cricket Books / Carus Publishing | How I Became an American | German | W | ||
| 2002 | Viking Press | French | hon | |||
| 2003 | The Chicken House / Scholastic | German | W | |||
| 2003 | David R. Godine | Henrietta and the Golden Eggs | German | hon | ||
| 2004 | Walter Lorraine Books | Run, Boy, Run | Hebrew | W | ||
| 2004 | Chronicle Books | Swedish | hon | |||
| 2005 | Delacorte Press / Dell | French | W | |||
| 2005 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Danish | hon | |||
| 2005 | Atheneum Books | Daniel Half Human and the Good Nazi | German | hon | ||
| 2006 | Arthur A. Levine Books | German | W | |||
| 2006 | Phaidon Press | Nicholas | French | hon | ||
| 2006 | Bloomsbury Children’s Books | When I Was a Soldier | French | hon | ||
| 2007 | Delacorte Press / Dell | French | W | |||
| 2007 | Delacorte Press / Dell | French | hon | |||
| 2007 | Hyperion / Miramax | Italian | hon | |||
| 2008 | VIZ Media | Brave Story | Japanese | W | ||
| 2008 | Milkweed Editions | German | hon | |||
| 2008 | Phaidon Press | Nicholas and the Gang | French | hon | ||
| 2009 | Arthur A. Levine Books | Japanese | W | |||
| 2009 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Garmann's Summer | Norwegian | hon | ||
| 2009 | Amulet Books | Tiger Moon | German | hon | ||
| 2010 | Delacorte Press / Dell | Swedish | W | |||
| 2010 | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Eidi | Danish | hon | ||
| 2010 | Enchanted Lion Books | Big Wolf and Little Wolf | French | hon | ||
| 2010 | Arthur A. Levine Books | ' | Japanese | hon | ||
| 2011 | Delacorte Press / Dell | French | W | |||
| 2011 | namelos | Departure Time | Dutch | hon | ||
| 2011 | Atheneum Books | Nothing | Danish | hon | ||
| 2012 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Soldier Bear | Dutch | W | ||
| 2012 | Delacorte Press / Dell | Swedish | hon | |||
| 2013 | Dial Books | My Family for the War | German | W | ||
| 2013 | Graphic Universe | French | hon | |||
| 2013 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Son of a Gun | Dutch | hon | ||
| 2014 | Enchanted Lion Books | Mister Orange | Dutch | W | ||
| 2014 | Enchanted Lion Books | French | hon | |||
| 2014 | Enchanted Lion Books | My Father's Arms Are a Boat | Norwegian | hon | ||
| 2014 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Dutch | hon | |||
| 2015 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | Mikis and the Donkey | Dutch | W | ||
| 2015 | Roaring Brook Press | Hidden: A Child's Story of the Holocaust | French | hon | ||
| 2015 | Enchanted Lion Books | Nine Open Arms | Dutch | hon | ||
| 2016 | Enchanted Lion Books | French | W | |||
| 2016 | Seven Stories Press | Adam and Thomas | Hebrew | hon | ||
| 2016 | NorthSouth Books | Grandma Lives in a Perfume Village | Chinese | hon | ||
| 2016 | TOON Books | Written and Drawn by Henrietta | Spanish | hon | ||
| 2017 | Enchanted Lion Books | Cry, Heart, But Never Break | Danish | W | ||
| 2017 | NorthSouth Books | As Time Went By | German | hon | ||
| 2017 | Margaret K. McElderry Books | Norwegian | hon | |||
| 2017 | Chronicle Books | Over the Ocean | Japanese | hon | ||
| 2018 | Delacorte Press / Dell | Swedish | W | |||
| 2018 | Charlesbridge | Malala: Activist for Girls' Education | French | hon | ||
| 2018 | Eerdmans Books for Young Readers | When a Wolf is Hungry | French | hon | ||
| 2018 | Elsewhere Editions | You Can't Be Too Careful! | Portuguese | hon | ||
| 2019 | Thames & Hudson | Translation Bureau | Lithuanian | W | ||
| 2019 | Yonder | Run for Your Life | Italian | hon | ||
| 2019 | Graphic Universe | My Beijing: Four Stories of Everday Wonder | French | hon | ||
| 2019' | Enchanted Lion Books | Jerome by Heart | French | hon | ||
| 2020 | Enchanted Lion Books | Brown | Norwegian | W | ||
| 2020 | Godwin Books/Henry Holt | The Beast Player | Japanese | hon | ||
| 2020 | Atheneum Books | The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree | Italian | hon | ||
| 2020 | Enchanted Lion Books | Do Fish Sleep? | German | hon | ||
| 2020 | Plough Publishing House | When Spring Comes to the DMZ' | Korean | hon |
Multiple awards and honors
has won five Batchelder Awards, Delacorte Press four. Several imprints have won three: Arthur A. Levine Books ; Lothrop, Lee & Shepard ; Houghton Mifflin. It appears that Scholastic Corporation and Houghton Mifflin have won five and four under all subsidiary imprints.Anthea Bell's translations from Danish, French and German have won seven mentions, four Awards and three Honors. Hillel Halkin's translations from Hebrew have four awards. Translations from Greek by Edward Fenton have won three, as have translations from Dutch by Laura Watkinson. Several people have translated two Award winners.
Uri Orlev writing in Hebrew and Alki Zei writing in Greek were the authors of four and three Award-winning works, all of those translated by Halkin and Fenton respectively. Bjarne Reuter wrote two of the winners in Danish, Bibi Dumon Tak two in Dutch, and Josef Holub two in German.
;Numbers of Awards and Honors by original language