AustLit

'Fall 1956: A member of the board of directors of the Rockefeller Foundation came to visit Jella Lepman in Munich. He told the sixty-five-year-old founder of the International Youth Library and of the International Board of Books for Young People about a world-wide project for developing countries, initiated and financed by UNESCO, the Rockefeller Foundation, and other American foundations. The aim was to support the developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America in their modernization and industrialization efforts in the areas of economics, politics, and culture. Could Jella Lepman have imagined participating in this project and incorporating children's literature? Lepman did not hesitate. The temptation to spread the word about the power of children's literature to promote international understanding and peace further around the world was far too great. In her autobiography, A Bridge of Children's Books, Lepman remembers: "This would be a unique opportunity to spread the idea of international understanding through children's books to countries that were just coming into their own. Once more, fate was knocking at my door." Back then, no one would have guessed that this memorable meeting would mark the beginning of the journal Bookbird.' (Introduction)