‘A Secret Safe to Tell’ wins Chinese children’s award

In China, a translated edition of Naomi Hunter’s A Secret Safe to Tell (illus by Karen Erasmus, Empowering Resources) has won the gold award at the Children’s Choice Book Awards.

Translated into simplified Chinese by Li Jianmin and published by Hebei Education Publishing House as Kěyǐ Qīngsù de Mìmì, A Secret Safe to Tell encourages meaningful conversations about body safety, the importance of not keeping secrets and confiding in trusted adults if something is making you uncomfortable.

Empowering Resources co-founder Jeremy Hunter said, ‘When it was first released in Australia in 2014, it made a huge impact on kids in Australia. Within the first three months of release, 10 young girls disclosed abuse while reading it.’

Chinese children cast 1.3 million votes for their favourite book in categories that included picture book, younger readers and children’s nonfiction, after librarians in 39 cities visited 312 schools across the country.

The translated edition of A Secret Safe to Tell received 63,035 votes in the picture book category to win the gold award. Winning the silver award with 62,406 votes was the American book The Stick by Clay Rice (trans by Hou Chunpeng as Jiǎn Dào Yī Gēn Mófǎ Gùn, Yunnan Science & Technology Press) and the Russian book Mouse House by Igor Oleynikov (trans by Chen Nianju as Lǎoshǔ de Fángzi, Beijing Normal University Press) received the bronze award with 61,042 votes.

Category: Awards Junior Local news