The International Publishers Association has partnered with the United Nations to launch a new book club for children ages six to 12. The club focuses on books that inform children about the UN’s 17 different sustainable development goals. Under the project, the SDG Book Club—otherwise known as the Sustainable Development Goals Book Club—will release a selection of new titles each month related to one of the goals, and offered in the six official languages of the UN: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish.
The first lists, related to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 1: No Poverty were released today at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair by Michiel Kolman, former IPA president ,and Carole Bloch, executive director of Project for the Study of Alternative Education in South Africa and v-p of the International Board on Books for Young People.
Amina Mohammed, United Nations Deputy Secretary-General, said in a prepared statement that “true sustainability is only achievable with the support of the young.”
The books addressing the goal of “No Poverty,” for April, are:
Arabic:
• Aina da’at by Mohanned Al Akoos
• The Wonder Bag by Omaima Ezadeen
• The Strange Wondrous House by Omama Allawati
English:
• Serafina’s Promise by Ann E. Burg
• Last Stop on Market Street by Matt de la Peña, illus. by Christian Robinson
• A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
• The Happy Prince by Oscar Wilde, illus. by Maisie Paradise Shearring
French:
• Jouer aux Fantômes by Didier Levy, illus. by Sonja Bougaeva
• L’usine by Yael Hassan
• La Pauvreté et la Faim by Louise Spilsbury, illus. by Hanane Kai
• Ma Robe Couleur de Fruits by Myriam Gallot, illus. Julia Wauters
Russian:
• The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish by Alexander Pushkin
• Vanka by Anton Chekhov
• The Cat’s House by Samuil Marshak
Spanish:
• A la Sombra de los Anacardos by Antón Fortes Torres, illus. by Simona Mulazzani
• De Noche en la Calle by Ángela Lago
• No Comas Renacuajos by Francisco Montaña Ibáñez
• Un Punado de Semillas by Mónica Hughes, illus. by Luis Garay
In May, the SDG Book Club will address the issue of Goal 2: Zero Hunger and in June, Goal 3: Good Health and Well-Being.
