Abstract

The article addresses two under-researched areas, that is the translation of nonfiction picturebooks and the relationship between translation and multilingual children’s literature. It discusses the publication context of The Story of Ukraine. An Anthem of Glory and Freedom, a bilingual nonfiction picturebook available in English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian editions, and reflects on the differences between these publications. The analysis reveals various differences between the three language versions. Adopting Borodo’s (2020) integrated approach, based on a systematic examination of the language of translated children’s literature, the article identifies several linguistic patterns, including amplification, fairy-tale-ization, mitigation, and simplification. The Ukrainian text often uses poetic and evocative language; the English text is more concise and straightforward; whereas the Polish translation is much more expressive. The value of this study lies in demonstrating that translations of non-fiction do more than simply ‘communicate information’; they introduce new meanings absent from the source texts due to various editorial and publishing decisions. The study also provides a broader context by presenting statistical data about Ukrainian refugees worldwide and explaining how book markets responded to the growing demand for bilingual editions in Poland and English-speaking countries.

Keywords: children’s literature translation, translating nonfiction, picturebooks, multilingual books, Ukraine, migration

1. Introduction

This article addresses two under-researched topics, that is the translation of nonfiction and the relationship between translation and multilingual children’s books. Although Children's Literature and Translation Studies (CLTS) is a well-established subfield of Translation Studies, characterized by an increasing number of conferences, PhD projects and publications, further input from concrete case studies and more in-depth research is needed to address the conspicuous gaps in these two specific topics. The article begins by highlighting the complexity and research potential of translated nonfiction, to then focus on multilingual children’s literature from a translation perspective. We subsequently discuss the publication context of The Story of Ukraine. An Anthem of Glory and Freedom, a bilingual nonfiction picturebook in English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian editions.

We first draw attention to the importance of multimodality and images, which are central to texts for children, and then examine the bilingual editions in linguistic terms. To this end, we introduce a range of techniques used in the translation of children’s literature: mitigation, didacticism, infantilization, amplification, fairy-tale-ization, simplification, explicitation, stylization, standardization and modernization. This methodological perspective is based on Borodo's (2020) integrated approach, which demonstrates that a systematic examination of the language used in translated children's literature can reveal recurring patterns. We conclude by suggesting how this study can lead to a large-scale research project concerning translation and multilingual books in the context of the three languages in question, that is English, Ukrainian and Polish.

Although they represent a significant part of literature for young readers, nonfiction children’s books have traditionally received less attention within academia (O’Sullivan 2013: 460). Not so long ago, they were not even considered a legitimate part of children’s literature (Goga et al.: 2021: 1), which may be related to what von Merveldt (2018: 241, in Goga et al. 2021: 1) refers to as “the grand narrative according to which the history of children’s literature should be seen as a triumphant emancipation from instruction to delight”. However, it is often the case that nonfiction children’s books may offer both instruction and delight, being characterized by inventiveness, finesse and originality. Grilli (2020: 11) notes that the opening decades of the twenty-first century in particular saw an increase in the number of original and experimental nonfiction books for children. Similarly, Masi (2021: 60) observes that nonfiction is a diverse field “highly hybrid in terms of style, format, activities and approaches, which can be innovative, creative, even subversive at times”. Such literature increasingly aims to evoke not only an intellectual response but also aesthetic and emotional reactions among young readers (Grilli 2020: 14).

The originality and inventiveness of nonfiction books for children may explain why translation scholars’ perception of them has been changing for some time. This may be illustrated with recent studies on the translation of sex education books (Paprocka and Wandel 2022; Dymel-Trzebiatowska 2021), historical books (Borodo 2017: 137-161; Sezzi 2019) or nonfiction literature on eco-literacy and geography (Masi 2021; Woźniak 2021).  Such studies (see Borodo 2025 for a detailed discussion) address questions concerning the interplay between the verbal and the visual, different notions of education and alternative methods of communicating knowledge. These methods may be influenced by socio-cultural norms, ideological issues, and culture-specific editorial and publishing practices. As Goga et al. (2021: 2) rightly note, what is crucial in the analysis of illustrated nonfiction for children is “the acknowledgement that the dissemination of knowledge in nonfiction picturebooks varies according to the context”. Another field that has traditionally received less attention from translation researchers is multilingual children’s literature.

2. Multilingual children’s books

As Hartmann and McGillicuddy (2025: 2) point out, two broad categories of multilingual picturebooks can be distinguished. The first of these includes picturebooks that combine two language versions of a text, usually the translated and original versions. These books are often referred to interchangeably as dual-language, parallel or bilingual picturebooks. The other category of multilingual picturebooks does not use two complete versions of the text in different languages, but rather intermingles two or more languages within the same publication. These books are referred to as an interlingual, translingual or plurilingual. The first of these categories is based on parallelism, with each language having an equal share in the story. In the second category, different languages are mixed in such a way that one language is prioritized (Kümmerling-Meibauer 2025: 13).

In practice, the languages used in multilingual picturebooks can be mixed in a variety of ways. For instance, Kümmerling-Meibauer (2025) presents an example from Sabine Knauf’s German picturebook Einsteigen bitte! Mücke und Floh fahren U-Bahn, in which the narrative appears in German, while the dialogue of the passengers is displayed in speech bubbles in different languages, such as English, Turkish and Italian, to emphasize the multilingual and multicultural environment described by the book. One language may be prioritized, as it the case with Rubia and the Three Osos by Susan M. Elya and Melissa Sweet, which is an English-Spanish version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, where Spanish words (e.g. papá, casita) marked in a different colour and larger font are integrated in the English text (Short and Daly 2025: 26). In more recent American picturebooks examined by Short and Daly (ibid.), non-English words are not marked in any way, but are simply woven seamlessly into the text. This approach does no set English as the norm, nor does it treat non-English expressions as typographically different and “other”. Another category includes picturebooks in which a language is used for the main narrative and another language (or languages) is used for the intraiconic text in the illustrations. This can serve multiple purposes, such as providing hints about specific settings and adding new layers of meaning to the narrative (Costa and Ramos 2005: 207-209).

From an analytical perspective, what makes multilingual picturebooks particularly interesting is the combination of different modes that contribute to the creation of meaning on a page, as well as the formal characteristics of such publications. As Kümmerling-Meibauer (2025: 14) notes, multilingual picturebooks are characterized by a complex interplay of modes – illustration, text, and script (e.g. Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic or Japanese) – and the use of certain culturally transmitted visual codes relating to colours, patterns, cultural symbols, and reading direction (left-to-right in European books, but right-to-left in East Asian and Arabic books). Children need to decipher these semiotic codes in order to interpret them, and Kümmerling-Meibauer (2025: 22-23) compares the act of reading a multilingual picturebook to code-switching, a concept from second language acquisition and multilingualism studies. Just as code-switching speakers move between different languages, readers of multilingual picturebooks continually switch between text and images, as well as between different languages and scripts. The analysis of such picturebooks can take into account their various formal characteristics. These include the external aspects (e.g. the front and back covers or book jacket), inner aspects (e.g. front matter, the title page and author notes) and the main body of the publication (e.g. font size, page layout and the use of bold or italics) (Short and Daly 2025: 31), along with many other aspects such as the use of colours or paper quality.

Although the reasons behind the creation and publication of multilingual picturebooks vary, several major motivations can be identified. Costa and Ramos (2025: 209) suggest the following: (a) a commercially motivated decision to reach a broader international audience; (b) the creative and rhetorical objective of enriching the artistic potential of a picturebook; and (c) the promotion of linguistic and intercultural awareness, particularly with regard to immigrants, refugees, and minority languages and cultures. Providing an insightful example of the latter category, Daly et al. (2025) demonstrate how such books can contribute to the revitalisation of the endangered indigenous languages of New Zealand and Wales. Until the early to mid-nineteenth century, Cymraeg (Welsh) and Māori were the dominant languages in their respective geographical regions, subsequently threatened and replaced by English due to the expansion of the British Empire. Bilingual books have been published in Wales and New Zealand since the 1970s, with a notable increase since 2010, due to the changing linguistic policies and a growing demand for educational materials in these languages (Daly et al. 2025: 46). In this sense, the books make space for endangered, minority languages, offering them to readers in the public domain. They are examples of linguistic activism, serving the goals of raising linguistic awareness and language revitalization.

To provide another example, this time directly related to the Ukrainian context, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in the summer of 2022, Lindsay Myers and Bláithín Breathnach self-published a multilingual picturebook combining three different languages: English, Irish Gaelic, and Ukrainian. The book aimed to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people, introduce displaced Ukrainian children to the Irish language and culture, and help Irish children to develop a greater understanding of the Ukrainian language and culture. Entitled I Want to Speak Ukrainian, the book centres on the relationship between Leila, an Irish schoolgirl, and Darynka, a Ukrainian refugee. Developed in cooperation with the Galway Ukrainian community and sponsored by the University of Galway, it was distributed to primary schools free of charge. In terms of its formal characteristics, the picturebook was initially published in a translingual format, with the main narrative written in English and the intraiconic text (e.g. words on classroom posters) written in Irish Gaelic and Ukrainian. The Ukrainian words were written in the Cyrillic alphabet and appeared alongside their phonetic transcriptions. This original edition was subsequently published in three separate editions. They had the same internal layout and images, but this time one of the three languages was used for the narrative in each edition, while words in the other two languages were included as intraiconic text in different places on the pages of the book. In the following sections, we will examine another multilingual picturebook project related to Ukraine. First, we will shed more light on its publication context.

3. Setting the bilingual Ukrainian editions in context

Over the past three years, Ukraine has been at the centre of international attention due to Russia’s full-scale invasion, which has profoundly changed the lives of millions of Ukrainians, forcing them to leave their homes and seek refuge abroad. As of 31 July 2025, more than five million Ukrainian refugees had been registered worldwide. In Europe, the countries hosting the largest number of Ukrainian refugees include Germany (1,227,090), Poland (1,000,320), the Czech Republic (374,310), and the United Kingdom (254,580) (UNHCR 2025). The United States and Canada are the countries with the largest numbers of Ukrainian refugees outside Europe. As of 1 July 2023, there were around 234,500 Ukrainians in Canada, and around 280,000 in the USA as of 21 March 2023 (Mykhailyshyna et al. 2023: 12). Notably, around 31% of all refugees are children (as of 31 July 2025) who have found themselves in new linguistic and cultural environments (UNHCR 2025). It has been therefore an important task for parents to help their children adapt to new environments and to find ways to further acquaint them with the history and culture of their country of origin. In turn, many non-Ukrainian children living outside of Ukraine have limited knowledge about the country of their new Ukrainian friends.

The book markets responded quickly to this demand by offering a wide range of books. In English-speaking countries and in Poland, a number of bilingual English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian books have been published to help Ukrainian children integrate into their new host societies and introduce local children to Ukrainian culture, history, traditions, and the current situation in Ukraine. The markets for bilingual English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian children's books have expanded rapidly since 2022, but the themes they cover differ. English-Ukrainian bilingual children's books often introduce children to such concepts as friendship, migration, identity and diversity in society. For instance, such books as We Can All Be Friends and Who Are We? encourage young readers to appreciate and reflect on social diversity. Some books, such as The Turnip and Kolobok: The Small Round Bun, retell popular Ukrainian folk tales to introduce children to Ukrainian culture. Others, such as A Wonderful Day and From My Window, are designed to help children learn English or Ukrainian as a second language.

By contrast, Polish-Ukrainian bilingual children’s books primarily aim to educate young readers about the war and its impact on family life. For example, the books Zagubiona Mruczusia [The Lost Mruczusia] and Teraz tu jest nasz dom [Now this is our home] tell the stories of families affected by the conflict and recount their experiences of migrating to Poland. Other books, such as Podwójne święta [Double holidays] and Widzimy się w Polsce! [We will see each other in Poland!] introduce children to Polish and Ukrainian culture, traditions and history. Similar to English-Ukrainian bilingual children's books, such Polish-Ukrainian bilingual children's books as W szkole i przedszkolu! [At school and kindergarten] and Poznajmy się! [Let's get to know each other!] support children in learning basic words and phrases in both languages. In this article, we will examine the nonfiction picturebook The Story of Ukraine. An Anthem of Glory and Freedom, which introduces preschool children to the basic information about Ukraine, a “multiethnic, multilingual, and multicultural country” (Kharchenko and Sampson 2022, n.p.).

The Story of Ukraine is a bilingual English-Ukrainian picturebook for children written by American children’s author Michael Sampson and his wife, Olena Kharchenko, and illustrated by Ukrainian artist Polina Doroshenko. Michael Sampson has long been fascinated by Ukraine’s people, history and geography (Bird 2022). During his time as a Fulbright Scholar in Ukraine from 2021 to 2022, he taught English to primary school children. However, with the outbreak of the war in February 2022, he was forced to evacuate to Warsaw, Poland, where he continued his work. While attending peaceful rallies in the city, Sampson was deeply moved when he heard a group of people singing the Ukrainian national anthem. Recalling his previous work, I Pledge Allegiance – a book about the American national anthem that he co-authored with Bill Martin Jr. – he wondered if he could create something similar for Ukraine (ibid.). Sampson thus invited Olena Kharchenko to collaborate with him on a book dedicated to the Ukrainian national anthem. She was “excited and supported his idea” (ibid.). She later recalled: “I thought it was very good timing for that project and a way to get the truth out about Ukraine’s history” (ibid.).

The book presents the history of Ukraine, the origins of its culture and the spirit of its people through the lines of the national anthem. It begins with several pages that delve into the geography of the country and the history of the Ukrainian people. The following pages contain the lyrics of Ukraine’s national anthem, alongside a detailed explanation of the text and its historical significance. They also describe Ukrainians who “will do anything to protect Ukraine and will pay any price to keep her free” (Kharchenko and Sampson 2022, n.p.). The authors then describe the meaning of the coat of arms, which is a blue shield bearing a gold trident, and explain the significance of the colours of the flag: blue reflects “the bright, peaceful, cloudless Ukrainian sky”, and yellow symbolises “the golden wheat fields” (ibid.). Readers will also have the opportunity to learn about other national symbols, traditional costumes, folk dances, traditional cuisine, cultural traditions and prominent Ukrainians. The entire book conveys the idea that Ukraine’s “greatest treasure is the Ukrainian people, and their hopes for a peaceful future” (ibid.).

The English-Ukrainian bilingual edition was originally published in Ukraine on 24 August, Ukraine’s Independence Day, by the Old Lion Publishing House, and in the United States in December 2022 by Brown Books Kids (Johnson 2025). In Poland, the picturebook was translated by Marta Tychmanowicz and published as a Polish-Ukrainian bilingual edition by the Babaryba publishing house in November 2022. Marta Tychmanowicz is not only the translator of the book. She is also a co-owner of Babaryba, together with her husband. In both editions, the English and Polish texts are predominantly placed on the left-hand pages, with the Ukrainian text on the right. This allows children to become visually familiar with the Ukrainian language and its Cyrillic alphabet. The book is essential reading for anyone eager to discover Ukraine’s rich cultural heritage and grasp the reasons behind its desire for independence. It can also serve as a starting point for conversations with children about the war and its consequences.

4. Images, colours, and the book cover

The Story of Ukraine features a plethora of vibrant, layered and multicoloured illustrations by Polina Doroshenko. The symbolic colours of the Ukrainian flag, namely blue and yellow, dominate the artist’s vivid, detailed artwork, thereby reinforcing the book’s patriotic tone. Other colours such as red, orange, green, white, grey and black, complement the illustrations, creating a visually rich and expressive palette. The folklore-style illustrations do not interfere with the readability of the text; instead, they reinforce the picturebook’s main themes of resilience, unity and national pride.

For example, the opening illustration (Image 1) introduces young readers to the geography of Ukraine. It presents the country’s most characteristic regional features in a simplified yet artistic map: the Carpathian Mountains in the west, coal mines in the east, churches in the north, and the Black Sea in the south. The map also conveys a symbolic message, as it depicts the entire territory of Ukraine, including regions currently affected by war. This serves as a visual reminder of the Ukrainians’ hope and aspiration to restore territorial integrity. The two main characters of the book, a boy and a girl dressed in traditional folk costumes, are positioned on either side of the map and invite readers to embark on a visual journey through their homeland.

Image 1. Depiction of a symbolic map of Ukraine with its characteristic regional features

As the visual narrative unfolds, each subsequent illustration immerses readers in Ukraine’s historical and cultural heritage, allowing them to visually familiarise themselves with key national symbols, including the national flag, coat of arms, national flower and national plant, as well as traditional garments, and traditional dishes.

Readers also have the opportunity to encounter some of Ukraine’s most prominent historical and cultural figures, depicted on the branches of a bright yellow tree adorned with colourful flowers (see Image 2). On the left is composer Mykola Leontovych pointing to musical notes. Above him is poet Taras Shevchenko holding his famous collection of poems, Kobzar. Next to him is artist Kateryna Bilokur, captured in the act of painting flowers inspired by folk motifs and the beauty of nature. On the right is aircraft designer Ihor Sikorsky standing next to his invention: the helicopter. The tree also symbolizes Ukraine’s living and growing heritage, which continues to flourish thanks to the talents and achievements of its people. Overall, the illustrations introduce readers to the richness of Ukrainian heritage, encouraging them to discover the meanings embedded within the artwork.

Image 2. Depiction of prominent figures in Ukrainian history and culture

In terms of its formal characteristics, the English-Ukrainian edition is larger in size than the Polish-Ukrainian edition. It also has a dust jacket with folded flaps, featuring photographs of Olena Kharchenko, Michael Sampson and Polina Doroshenko, along with brief biographical information about each of them. Here, the reader learns that Olena Kharchenko is from Dnipro, Ukraine, that she lives in the USA together with her husband and daughter, and that she “has been actively volunteering in different projects trying to help Ukraine to resist Russian aggression since 2014”,  when Russia invaded and annexed Crimea and then occupied the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine. Michael Sampson is described as “a New York Times bestselling author of more than forty books for children”, including Armadillo Antics and Ten Little Squirrels, and Polina Doroshenko as a Ukrainian artist living in Kyiv, whose illustrations “were awarded the White Ravens Award and were among the finalists of the Bologna Children’s Book Fair”. The same information is repeated in Cyrillic on the folded flap on right-hand side. There is also a QR code at the bottom of the left-hand side folded flap that the reader can scan to listen to the Ukrainian national anthem.

Image 3. The front covers of the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian editions

The front cover of the English-Ukrainian and the Polish-Ukrainian bilingual editions (see Image 3) features a bilingual title and identical images, as well as mentions of the two authors and the illustrator in both the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. The back cover features four recommendations from notable figures, such as Jeff Kinney, the author of the best-selling Diary of the Wimpy Kid series, as well as a promotional blurb.

Image 4. The use of bold typeface in the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian versions of the text

There are practically no changes of the images, colours and page layout in the two bilingual editions. The typography, however, was creatively adjusted in all three languages in the texts of the Ukrainian anthem, in which bold typeface was applied to various expressions in Ukrainian, Polish and English. This is shown in Image 4 with an example of two selected pages from the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian bilingual editions. The most notable differences noticeable between the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian editions relate to how the textual message was mediated and negotiated in the three language versions. This will be the focus of the final section, whereas below we will present the methodological approach.

5. Children’s literature translation techniques

This section introduces translation techniques traditionally used in translated children’s literature, that is mitigation, didacticism, infantilization, amplification, fairy-tale-ization, simplification, explicitation, stylization, standardization and modernization. Some of them are typical of translating for children; others are found in translated texts in general. These techniques are essentially qualitative in nature, indicating how exactly a translated text is transformed in terms of content, although they may overlap with such quantifiable techniques as addition, omission and condensation, the terms we will also use in passing. This research perspective is based on Borodo’s (2020) integrated approach, which shows how systematic examination of the language used in translated children’s literature can reveal recurring linguistic patterns.

The first of these techniques is mitigation, which involves toning down or deleting content deemed inappropriate in order to make translated texts less controversial and disturbing for young readers of a given target culture. This may involve addressing societal taboos and problematic passages relating to death, violence, cruelty, nudity, sex, children’s supposedly inappropriate behaviour, bad habits, alcohol, religion, and racial issues (Klingberg 1986: 59–61; O’Sullivan 2005: 82–91; Nikolajeva 2006: 281–284; Van Coillie 2011; Pokorn 2012). Translators of children’s literature have also sometimes used didacticism to educate and instruct readers by expanding their knowledge or by suggesting appropriate models of behaviour (Nikolajeva 2006: 283; Pieciul-Karmińska 2014: 66; Looby 2015: 164). This may include both heavy-handed moralizing in earlier translations as well as additions that enhance the educational value of a translation. Amplification, or hyperbolization, is the use of exaggerated language to build tension and dramatize selected passages (House 2004: 693; Pieciul-Karmińska 2011: 89, Kaniklidou and House 2017: 9). This may involve intensifying a message by heightening suspense, adding exclamation marks or adopting more emotional and evocative style. Fairy-tale-ization is the process of adapting a text to fit the conventions of fairy tales by using predominantly physical and tangible terms in characterization, as well as fairy-tale attributes and expressions such as “Once upon a time…”, when these are not used in the original text (Pieciul-Karmińska 2011: 89–90; Borodo 2020: 120-124). In turn, infantilization refers to the depiction of protagonists, which may be illustrated by introducing diminutives and emotionally charged expressions such as “little”, “poor”, “our”, “dear”, when these forms do not appear in the source text (Adamczyk-Garbowska 1988: 113–116; Ben-Ari 1992: 226; House 2004: 690; Pieciul-Karmińska 2011: 87–89).

While these translation techniques are typical of children’s literature, others, such as simplification, explicitation, stylization, standardization and modernization, can be also found in texts translated for both children and adults. Simplification is often considered an inherent part of translation (Laviosa 1998: 8), although it provides fertile ground for analysis for researchers of translated children’s books to identify instances of omitting details, complex syntax or challenging vocabulary. According to Shavit (1986: 113), this is one of the defining features of this type of translation, since language, plot and characterization can be adapted to suit children’s reading and comprehension abilities, as defined by society. Translators can also resort to explicitation, a process which has been extensively studied and documented in translation research (Blum-Kulka’s [1986] 2001: 300; Séguinot 1988: 108; Chesterman 1997: 71; Klaudy 2009: 106–107). In children’s literature, translators can express what is implicit or absent from the original text at a syntactic or lexical level, providing more specific and coherent information. Another translation technique that can be identified in children’s literature is the standardization of fictional dialogue, which may involve replacing dialects, sociolects, slang, vulgar language or intentional grammatical errors with more “appropriate” forms that conform to the notion of idealized, correct language (Looby 2015: 171; Borodo 2020: 136-139). The opposite technique is stylization, which may be applied when no stylization is found in the source text. This may involve deliberate archaization (Pieciul-Karmińska 2016: 53–56) or accentuation of certain linguistic habits of literary protagonists (Bell [1987] 2006: 233). One other technique that can be found in literary translation in general, but which has been amply illustrated with examples from translated children’s literature, is modernization. This is based on the idea of updating everyday items and details, concepts, and patterns of behaviour (Klingberg 1978: 86; Oittinen 2000: 135–142; Nikolajeva 2006: 282–283).

Which of these translation techniques, if any, can be found in The Story of Ukraine? Is any one of them particularly common? With this question in mind, we will now examine the linguistic make-up of the book in order to identify recurring patterns. Although we will analyse all three linguistic versions, our primary focus will be on the Polish text in search of translation techniques. This is because we have not been able to establish whether the English or Ukrainian version was created first, or if one was based on the other. It is also equally possible that these versions were developed in parallel. However, the Polish text in the Polish-Ukrainian edition is clearly based on the English-Ukrainian edition.

We also got in touch with Marta Tychmanowicz from the Babaryba publishing house to ask her about the process of creating the Polish text. We were curious to know whether she used the English or the Ukrainian text as the source, or both these language versions simultaneously. She was kind enough to respond (personal communication, April 2025), informing us that the Polish text was mainly translated from English, but that the final version was also consulted with the Polish-Ukrainian translator. While we received no further insights into the translation process, it is noteworthy that the translation was to some extent a collaborative effort, just as the creation of the original English-Ukrainian edition was.

6. An analysis of the bilingual editions

An examination of the bilingual editions reveals a number of differences between the English, Ukrainian and Polish versions. They include changes in style, additions, omissions, as well as various textual reformulations. The differences between the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian editions are evident already in the titles. As can be seen in Table 1, the English-Ukrainian edition uses the same title – The Story of Ukraine. An Anthem of Glory and Freedom – in both languages. In the Polish-Ukrainian edition, the Ukrainian title was kept, but the Polish title was changed to A small book about great Ukraine. With the text of the national anthem. The reference to the “small book” may refer to the book’s compact size (the Polish-Ukrainian publication is smaller than the original English-Ukrainian edition), but it also serves to create a stylistic antithesis between the small format of the book and the greatness of Ukraine, with its rich culture and long history.

Table 1. Differences in the titles of the two bilingual picturebooks

Furthermore, in the English-Ukrainian edition, both language versions have the same subtitle, namely An Anthem of Glory and Freedom, which reflects the anthem’s symbolic significance for Ukrainians. The Polish translation has lost this symbolic meaning by rephrasing the subtitle as With the text of the national anthem, which simply informs the reader that the anthem’s lyrics are included in the book.

The translation technique that stands out most clearly in the Polish text is amplification. Various passages of the Polish text demonstrate a tendency to add exclamations and a more evocative, emotional style. Table 2 illustrates how sentences that were more neutral and informative in the English and Ukrainian versions were expressed differently in the corresponding Polish version.

Table 2. Examples of amplification in the Polish translation

Whereas the English text uses a more neutral tone to say that “the best thing about Ukraine is the people”, the Polish text ends the corresponding sentence with an exclamation mark. Similarly, while the English text states in a concise and matter-of-fact way that “Ihor Sikorsky invented the helicopter” and that “Sergiy Korolev’s rocket design put the first human in space” the corresponding Polish text adds, in a more evocative style, that it was thanks to Sergiy Korolev that man “set out to conquer space!”, which is once again followed by an exclamation mark.

Amplification and differences in style between English and Polish texts can also be illustrated with another example, which focuses on the natural beauty of Ukraine (Table 3). The Ukrainian text uses poetic and evocative language, portraying Ukraine as a “picturesque country”, “embraced by” mountains, waters and forests, and with “the huge Dnipro River” at its heart. However, the English and Polish texts diverge in the way they express this message in the two bilingual editions. The English version is slightly less poetic and evocative in terms of style, providing information in a more concise way. For example, the phrase “embraced by the Carpathian Mountains” is phrased as “with the Carpathian Mountains to the west”, and the Dnipro River is no longer described as “huge”. In contrast, the Polish version expands the description of Ukraine, focusing not only on its aesthetic qualities but also on its size. It presents Ukraine as “a huge and picturesque country!”, a point which is further emphasized by the exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.

Table 3. Differences in describing the geography of Ukraine in the bilingual editions

The Polish text also informs the reader that the Dnipro River is “one of Europe’s longest rivers”, emphasizing its geographical location and the fact that Ukraine is part of Europe. This can be seen as an example of explicitation and, perhaps, also mild didacticism. It provides more specific information than the English original and increases the educational value of the text. This is not done in a moralizing sense, but rather to increase the text’s informativity and expand readers’ knowledge. Essentially, in comparison with the Ukrainian text, the English text is more straightforward and less poetic, while the Polish text is more informative and evocative.

The same tendency can be seen in another passage (Table 4), which discusses Ukrainian culinary traditions. Here, the Polish text provides further information on Ukraine’s cultural heritage and is once again characterised by a more expressive style, whereas the English text is more concise and less evocative.

Table 4. Textual differences in referring to Ukraine’s culinary traditions

The Polish translation ends with the sentence “It is necessary to try these delicious Ukrainian specialties!”, which is followed by an exclamation mark, unlike the other two language versions. The Polish text also places greater emphasis on the international recognition of borshch, describing it as “famous” and informing the reader that it is “listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage”, a detail missing from the English and Ukrainian versions. Apart from these changes, in English almost all Ukrainian dish names are transliterated using the Latin alphabet in the English text, except for “deruny”, which is translated as “potato pancakes”, creating an inconsistency with the other dishes. The Polish text, on the other hand, is more descriptive and detailed in places. The names of Ukrainian dishes are adapted to the Polish alphabet and their Polish equivalents are given in brackets, although certain dishes present in the Ukrainian version, such as “kovbasa” and “holubci”, are omitted without being translated or explained.

We also identified a clear example of fairy-tale-ization in the passage about Ukrainian history, presented in Table 5. Note how the Polish translation begins with the phrase “A long, long time ago…”, which is absent from the English and Ukrainian versions and which sets a fairy-tale tone for the rest of the Polish text.

Table 5. Differences in describing Ukraine’s historical roots in the bilingual editions

Another notable difference is the omission from the Polish text of the reference to the “peaceful people” and “peace-loving Ukrainians” from the English and Ukrainian versions respectively. This, in turn, may be classified as an instance of mitigation, which involves toning down or deleting content that could be perceived as problematic within a given culture. This change is most probably related to the fact that Poland and Ukraine (the second and third largest Slavic nations) share not only a long national border, but also a turbulent history spanning over a thousand years. Throughout this shared history, there have been periods of both war and alliance. In this context, referring to peace-loving Ukrainians, or peace-loving Poles for that matter, could be problematic, and was mitigated.

Yet another technique identified in the Polish text is simplification. This can be illustrated with the example presented in Table 6, describing the historical significance of Kozaks – the knights of the Ukrainian state – and their influence on modern-day Ukrainians.

Table 6. Differences in the treatment of the etymology of Kozaks

The Polish version is shorter, omitting the information about the etymology of the word “kozak”. This is possibly because it is a well-known expression used in the Polish language, although the exact reason for this omission is not entirely clear. What is also striking about the three language versions is the way they rearrange information and differ in various details. For instance, the final sentence of the Ukrainian text becomes the first sentence of the Polish version. Unlike the other versions, the Polish text more explicitly refers to the current events in Ukraine by stating that “just as Kozaks once did, now the Ukrainians are also defending their land and their right to freedom”.

6. Concluding remarks

The analysis of the English-Ukrainian and Polish-Ukrainian nonfiction picturebooks reveals various differences between these publications. Using Borodo’s (2020) integrated approach, based on a systematic examination of the language of translated children’s literature, we identified a number of linguistic patterns. The translation technique that clearly stands out in the Polish text is amplification. It has been illustrated with various passages that add exclamations and use a more evocative style (e.g. “Ukraine is a huge and picturesque country!”, “It is necessary to try these delicious Ukrainian specialties!”, “But the greatest thing about Ukraine is its people!”). We identified one instance of fairy-tale-ization (“A long, long time ago…”) in a passage about Ukrainian history and an example of mitigation, which involves toning down content that could be perceived as problematic. The Polish translation also contains an instance of simplification, omitting the information about the etymology of the word “kozak”, as well as insertions which increase the educational value of the text (describing Dnipro as “one of Europe’s longest rivers” and noting that the famous Ukrainian borshch is “listed as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage”). In general, while the Ukrainian text often uses poetic and evocative language, the English text is more concise and straightforward. Conversely, the Polish text is sometimes more expressive. The value of this study lies in demonstrating that translated non-fiction picturebooks do not simply ‘communicate information’ in a neutral and impartial way. They also introduce new meanings that are absent from the source text as a result of various editorial and publishing decisions.

Although this study focuses on one multilingual nonfiction picturebook and its two bilingual editions, the third section presented a broader context. We provided statistical information about Ukrainian refugees worldwide, including the children who have found themselves in new linguistic and cultural environments. We also demonstrated how book markets responded to the growing demand for bilingual editions by offering a wide range of books that nevertheless differ in the themes they cover in Poland and English-speaking countries. We believe that this study could pave the way for a large-scale research project focusing on bilingual books and translation in the context of Ukrainian, English and Polish. Such a project could provide a detailed analysis of the extratextual context, offering measurable, statistical insights into the surge of such publications in recent years, driven by the growing demand for these books. The project could focus on translation techniques, paratexts, typography, images and the relationship between the languages used in such bilingual editions. This project could promote intercultural awareness as well as raise linguistic awareness of comparable publications in English, Polish and Ukrainian, which may nevertheless differ in a number of ways.

About the author(s)

Yana Viknianska is a PhD student and lecturer in the Department of English Linguistics at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Her research interests include multilingual books and the translation of children’s literature in the context of English, Polish and Ukrainian.

Michał Borodo is Associate Professor in the Department of English Linguistics at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. His research interests include the translation of children’s literature, tales, comic books, and fan translation. He wrote Translation, Globalization and Younger Audiences (2017) and English Translations of Korczak’s Children’s Fiction (2020). In 2025, together with Jorge Díaz-Cintas he edited The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Young Audiences.

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