Leffe Was Instead of a Dad (Swedish, 1974), Christine Nöstlinger’s Marrying Off Mother
(German, 1983), and Boris Zhitkov’s How I Hunted the Little Fellows (Russian, 1979).
The appeal of history, fantasy and adventure was also shown in translations at this
time. Young readers are shown insights into the fear of a Siberian tribe 4,000 years ago
in changing their ways in A. Linevski’s An Old Tale Carved Out of Stone (Russian, 1973),
the excavation of ancient Mesopotamia in Hans Baumann’s In the Land of Ur (German,
1969), the days of medieval Sweden in Marie Gripe’s The Glassblower’s Children
(Swedish, 1973), the arrival of young women to marry the fur traders in New France
(Quebec) in Suzanne Martel’s The King’s Daughter (French, 1980), the existence of a
modern medieval-ages environment in Harry Kullman’s The Battle Horse (Swedish,
1981), the immigration to the United States in Willi Fahrmann’s The Long Journey of
Lukas B. (German, 1985), and the fascist take-over of Greece in 1936 in Alki Zei’s Sound
of Dragon’s Feet (Greek, 1979).
Characteristic adventure stories are Siny Rose van Iterson’s two novels set in
Colombia, Pulga (Dutch, 1971) and The Curse of Laguna Grande (Dutch, 1973), as well
as Cecil Bödker’s The Leopard (Danish, 1975), and Wolfgang Korner’s The Green Frontier
(German, 1977). Equally important was the fantasy Finn Family Moomintroll (Swedish,
1965) and its sequels; and others such as Hanelore Valencak’s When Half-Gods Go
(German, 1976) about the possibility of the statue of a Greek god coming to life, or
Otfried Preussler’s The Satanic Mill (German, 1973), in whose evil atmosphere trapped
apprentices turn into ravens.
This period also reflects the introduction of powerful characters and relationships. The
friendship of a Swedish boy with a tramp is the subject of Astrid Lindgren’s Rasmus and
the Vagabond (Swedish, 1960) and an old lady and a young girl become friends in Elfie
Donnelly’s Offbeat Friends (German, 1982). Humorous characters include the bungling
thief in Otfried Preussler’s The Robber Hotzenplotz (German, 1964), the child who is
always late in Anatolii Aleksin’s A Late-born Child (Russian, 1971) and the mail-ordered
perfectly mannered boy in Christine Nöstlinger’s Konrad (German, 1977).
This golden era saw the rise of professionally translated picture books as an art form.
These were represented by the books of renowned artists, such as Susi Bohdal’s Selina:
The Mouse and the Giant Cat (German, 1982), Max Bolliger’s The Giants’ Feast (German,
1975), Hans Baumann’s The Hare’s Race (German, 1976), Achim Broger’s Outrageous
Kasimir (German, 1976), Bodil Hagbrink’s Children of Lapland (Swedish, 1978), Ruth
Hurliman’s The Cat and Mouse Who Shared A House (German, 1974), and Jürg Steiner’s
Rabbit Island (German, 1978).
Things changed in the mid-1980s; while in Europe, the exchange of titles in
translation continued, in English-speaking countries the exchange was almost entirely
with other English-speaking countries. The tight economic situation, past experiences of
translations not selling, isolationist tendencies dominant in Britain and the strong sales
between the USA and Britain combined to keep the number of translations being
published low. This situation remains despite a more open attitude towards
internationalism in the USA.
Although fewer titles have been translated, there have been several areas of
development. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of information books
being translated, especially ones with a natural history focus. These include such titles
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