Covers of the nine books in contention for this year’s Prix Albertine Jeunesse. Image: Albertine
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
Voting in 672 Classes
The French Institute’s Albertine in New York City has announced the winners of the seventh edition of its annual Prix Albertine Jeunesse, an award that this year had the participation of “nearly 15,596” students in 672 classes who voted to determine the annual reader’s choice award for the best francophone children’s book in English translation. The program thus took a bit of a step back in sheer numbers—having reported 16,848 students in 754 classes last year—but enthusiasm seems to be typically high for the results.
The program is intended to encourage children aged 3 to 11 to choose a favorite book from several works of francophone youth literature available in English translation.
The program, of course, is gracefully aligned with the mission of Albertine, itself, a bookstore that sells more than 14,000 contemporary and classic titles from more than 30 French-speaking countries.
This year’s winners are:
- Never, Not Ever (Même pas en rêve) by Beatrice Alemagna, translated by Jill Davis and published by L’école des loisirs
- Aiko and the Planet of Dogs (Aiko et la planète des chiens) by Ainhoa Cayuso and Christoffer Ellegaard, translated by Irene Vázquez and published by Les fourmis rouges
- Shepherdess Warriors (Bergères Guerrières) Volume 1, by Jonathan Garnier and Amélie Fléchais, translated by Ivanka Hahnenberger and published by Glénat editeur de talents
“These books,” say the contest’s organizers, “have been honored for their exceptional literary and artistic value, the uniqueness and authenticity of the perspectives they offer to young readers on the world, and their captivating appeal.”
The Prix Albertine Jeunesse was established in 2018, and is devised to promote recently published books translated from French in the United States and Canada. The students who do the voting read several books from a bilingual shortlist of various titles for youths. The voting readers are said to have assessed the quality of each book in both French and English editions, immediately revealing one of the strengths of the program—it reveals to youngsters the comparative qualities of various textual iterations and translations.
Comprising those 672 classes were 70 accredited French Schools and public bilingual and/or dual-language schools in North America. Those 70 schools all integrated the Prix Albertine Jeunesse books into their curricula, the idea being “to strengthen bilingual and multilingual education, fostering connections between French and English.”
In case you’re interested, you can see the classroom teaching materials that were made available to participating teachers, free of charge. Those materials are here. On this page, you can see the nine books originally included in the running for the winning three spots.
More from Publishing Perspectives on awards in books and publishing is here; more on France’s book publishing industry is here, more on children’s books is here, and more on work in the French language is here.
