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Bookbird: A Window into the World of Children's Books and Scholarship

2023; Johns Hopkins University Press; Volume: 61; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1353/bkb.2023.a912586

1918-6983

Aline Frederico,

Education and Digital Technologies

Bookbird:A Window into the World of Children's Books and Scholarship Aline Frederico (bio) Celebrating Bookbird and IBBY's 70th anniversary is celebrating the power to transform the world and the lives of children with poetry, imagination, solidarity, collaboration, and critical thinking. Today, IBBY is a touchstone across the globe with its awards, Congresses, journal, exhibitions, and other activities, with sections in more than eighty countries. The organization, since its conception, has always aimed to promote cross-cultural understanding through children's books. Here in the Global South, IBBY's work is more crucial than ever in the development, promotion, and research of children's books. Such important work is often done with little resources by volunteers—believers who dedicate their lives to keeping Jella Lepman's dream alive and bringing high-quality books to the hands of children and young people. The national section in Brazil—Fundação Nacional do Livro Infantil e Juvenil (FNLIJ)—was founded by Maria Luiza de Barbosa de Oliveira, Laura Sandroni, and Ruth Villela de Souza in 1968, four years into the military dictatorship that would last until 1985. In that period, Brazilian children's literature and book production were developing alongside the immense need for better education, literacy, and reading in the country. Today, despite the continuous struggle within the educational sphere, Brazil is globally recognized for its children's literature and has earned Hans Christian Andersen Awards three times—Lygia Bojunga Nunes in 1982, Ana Maria Machado in 2000, and Roger Mello in 2014. This recognition, both nationally and globally, is the result of decades of promoting Brazilian children's literature, in which the Brazilian IBBY Section has played a major role. FNLIJ also supported IBBY's internationalization project and expansion into the Global South—for instance, by hosting the 1974 IBBY International Congress, the first outside Europe. Bookbird's articles featuring Brazilian literature were also central in this process of generating awareness and appreciation of the texts across the world. Started in 1957, Bookbird has transitioned from a newsletter into an academic refereed journal, parallel to the professionalization of children's literature research and scholarship over the decades. Today, it is one of the most reputable journals in the field, and possibly the publication with the widest reach, due to IBBY's active branches worldwide. The journal was diverse even before the word took on the significance it has today, a diversity which is reflected in its readership, in the authorship of articles and book reviews, in the literature it discusses, in the choice of editors, and in the formation of the Editorial Review Board—which today has members from every continent. [End Page 73] I was honored to be invited by Bookbird's editor, Chrysogonus Siddha Malilang, to become a member of the Bookbird Editorial Review Board during his mandate (2023–2026). Being a board member means having the privilege and responsibility to read some of the articles firsthand. I can contribute with my expertise in accepting the finest research in the field and making sure this research is presented adequately to our readers. The articles are often related to my research and expertise from one angle but diverge significantly in another aspect. This opens up a learning opportunity for me, an experience I value immensely. While reviewing articles on literature from a culture that is foreign to me can be a challenge, it also puts me in the shoes of Bookbird's international readership. If the article does not present this literary work in a form that makes sense to me, it would not make sense to the journal's audience, and I can help the authors improve their work with my feedback. Since my first encounter with Bookbird as a reader, the journal impressed me with the accessibility of its texts. It is a rigorous publication, but it can engage those who are at the frontline and mediate children's access to books and literature daily: teachers and librarians. Bookbird stands out in its capacity to present cutting-edge research in brief and easy-to-read articles. Its design also contributes to creating an engaging journal for all kinds of readers. The cover does not have...