World Kid Lit Month 2026: Explorer Challenger: 13-18: Europe

 

Invisible.

Written by Eloy Moreno.

Translated from Spanish by Cristina Gahan.

Sourcebooks Young Readers, 2026.

A boy wakes up in a hospital room with no memory of how he got there. As time passes, the pieces of what happened that terrible fateful day start falling into place, and the boy remembers his secret: he has the power to become invisible. The boy is hesitant to tell anyone the truth. What will they think of him if they find out why he gained this ability? And what if it makes everything worse? One thing is certain - the invisible boy has become visible. Can he stand up to his biggest fear?

Be gentle with yourself, on reading this.

Told through multiple points of view, this is a confronting, challenging, and heartbreaking investigation into bullying – and the perpetrators, including the bystanders, observers, and those who laugh. Adults are complicit in this story of school bullying. Whether it is parents laughing at viral videos, or school staff who don't want to deal / acknowledge the issue. Or, parents who are so tied up with their lives, they don't see. 

So much is heartbreaking, but the interaction between the boy and his father, who is at his hospital bed, is right up there: 

"You don't work today either, Dad?" 

“No, not today. They gave me leave so I could stay with you, look after you.”

“And can’t they give you leave when I’m fine, when I’m not sick, so we can spend more time together?”

            And that’s when his heart started hurting him. That night he tried to remember the times he’d spent at home on a weekday: when he caught that awful flu, when he had that accident with his hand, when Grandpa died, when he’d taken the day off for his mother-in-law’s burial, but they’d never given him time off to celebrate a first tooth falling out, to show a child how to ride a bike, to spend a birthday together, to go for a swim at the beach…. In other words, they had never given him time off for the only real important things in life. 

         

 

World Kid Lit Month 2026: Explorer Challenger: 7-12: Africa

  

Ikenga.

Written by Nnedi Okorafor.

Viking, 2020.

Fiction.

In southeastern Nigeria, twelve-year-old Mnamdi is determined to avenge his police chief father, who was murdered while trying to rid the town of criminals, but Nnamdi feels powerless until he receives a magical object which gives him superpowers.

There is little to no separation of the natural and supernatural – which, in this book, are completely Western cultural impositions on this world. On this culture. Reading – understanding and absorbing – takes a bit as you need to decouple any Western worldviews about nature and supernatural, to understand.

World Kid Lit Month 2026: Explorer Challenger: 13-18: A Language with a Non-Latin Script

 

Asad's secret: a novel of Gaza.

Written by Najlaa Attaallah.

Translated by Sawad Hussain.

Translated from Arabic.

Levine Querido, 2026.

Asad lives in Gaza, in a tiny house, on a narrow street pocked by half-destroyed buildings, in a camp that looks shabby to him and feels claustrophobic. He walks virtually the same route every day to his summer job at a printing press, passing the prison that holds his father, for reasons that have not been fully explained to him. As the oldest son, he feels the weight of responsibility for his seven brothers, his sisters, and his Ummi, who wants him to study hard and excel in school, as all mothers do. Moody and reserved Asad has few friends, and fewer distractions. Thank goodness for Um Fawzi, a feisty, cigarette-smoking old woman, who's the only one who seems willing to tell it like it is, sharply enough, and with a biting sense of humor that snaps him out of his fog sometimes. There's also Houriya, a lovely and smart girl, who brings him books to read and sometimes prompts him to think about a future that he can't truly imagine. There seems to be no escaping. But Asad has a secret, too, a mysterious black bag that holds something important that he keeps hidden from everyone.

A tiny but powerful book. The book is so far in Asad’s head that it feels all-consuming. He’s not the easiest character to like.

World Kid Lit Month 2026: Explorer Challenger: 7-12: ALA Batchelder Award for Children’s Books in Translation

 

Home.  

Written and illustrated by Isabelle Simler.

Translated from the French by Vineet Lal. 

Eerdmans Books for Young Readers, 2024.

Originally published in French as Maison by Éditions Courtes et Longues, 2022.

Illustrated large format poetic nonfiction.

A spectacular tour through the dwellings of twenty-seven different animals, from a hermit crab's secondhand shell to a beaver's lakeside dam to a comet moth's silk cocoon. Acclaimed creator Isabelle Simler presents a poetic journey through amazing animal homes across the world. In Europe, alpine marmots stay safe in underground refuges. In southeast Asia, Sumatran orangutans doze off in treetop bedrooms. In Mexico and the southwestern US, elf owls nest in holes in saguaro cacti. On every continent but Antarctica, honeybees mold wax into palaces for their queens. No matter where you travel, some creature is making an extraordinary place to call home. With connections to life cycles, camouflage, and other biological concepts, Home is a spellbinding showcase of the wonders of the natural world. Enchanting poetry, fascinating back matter, and intricately detailed art invite young readers to be amazed by the creativity and diversity of our animal neighbors.

Translation is an art. It is one I am incapable of – but I can imagine that translating poetry would be the hardest. This is exemplary – and accompanied by amazing illustrations.

World Kid Lit Month 2026: Explorer Challenger: 7-12: Europe

 

Earth.

Written by Anna Skowrońska.

Graphic design and illustrations by Agata Dudek and Matgorzata Nowak.

Translation from the Polish by Antonia Lloyd-Jones.

Illustrated nonfiction.

The earth seems to be the most unshakable and solid of the elements and yet it changes all the time only we don't notice it on a daily basis. Where oceans once were, today mighty mountains pile up. In the place where glaciers stood, there are lakes. And if we go back 4.6 billion years, we won't find our planet at all. Where the globe moves today, there was only gas and dust.

Like Timeline (reviewed under Language Spoken by a Friend), this is a large format illustrated nonfiction.