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Can Children’s Books Help Save the World?

6 min readJul 4, 2026

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Have you ever heard of an organization called JBBY?

Most people probably have not. To be honest, I only learned about it quite recently myself.

Some readers, however, may have heard of the Hans Christian Andersen Award, often described as the “Little Nobel Prize” of children’s literature. Japanese authors such as Nahoko Uehashi and Eiko Kadono have received this honor.

The award is presented by IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People. JBBY is its Japanese section, formally known as the Japanese Board on Books for Young People. It is supported by people who believe in children’s books, many of them volunteers.

JBBY was established in 1974 with a simple and beautiful purpose: to deepen international understanding and help bring peace to the world through children’s books.

The Hans Christian Andersen Award is given every other year to an author and an illustrator whose lifetime work has made a lasting contribution to children’s literature. Past recipients include not only the two…

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Hiro Nakamura
Hiro Nakamura

Written by Hiro Nakamura

Children’s author and essayist from Japan. I write about gentle fantasy, children’s books, peace, haiku, and the quiet life of writing.

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