BOOKS: NEWS FROM THE FRONT

If anyone has the idea that children's books are child's play in financial terms, consider Mick Inkpen (we'd always wondered, but yes, it really is his name). His Kipper, the ubiquitous puppy published by Hodder, has sold two million copies across the world; and now comes Wibbly Pig (below, and see our reviewer's verdict opposite), with an initial print run of 750,000 copies. I bet even Martin Amis wouldn't mind Mick's royalties.

Thing about Wibbly Pig, though, is that - like many children's characters - he has to change his name when he goes abroad. Stories may be international; pictures ditto; but Wibbly is transformed into Willibald (for Germany), plain Piggy (Italy), Bibbeltje Big (Holland) and many more.

Changing your name is one thing, but the pitfalls of cultural sensibilities are many. Fans of Mairie Hedderwick's Katie Morag stories will recall Katie's grandfather: she used to live with him on that wee Scottish island, and spent what seemed like a perfectly reasonable amount of time sitting on his knee. Due to American fine feelings, however, grand-father had to become grandmother. What filthy minds they've all got. The New Puritanism struck again with a book called Oliver's Vegetables, coming up from Hodder, in which Oliver's mother displayed appalling, Euro-style moral laxity by drinking a glass of wine at lunch. It was changed, pace the US market, to a cup of coffee.

Between January and December 1994, an astounding 7,080 children's books were published in the UK, of which a mere 200 were translations. What an insular lot we are. But sales news from around the world suggests that kids' books are a formidable invisible export: the Japanese Top Ten bestselling picture books includes two Thomas the Tank Engine titles, the Ahlberg's The Jolly Postman and The Jolly Christmas Postman, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and a couple of other British-made hits. Meanwhile the Polish, who have had to re-invent a entire publishing industry since 1990 and the coming of the free market, buy Beatrix Potters by the bucketload and have in print two different translations of Winnie the Pooh. Very discerning people, the Poles.

Today is International Children's Book Day, commemorating the birthday of Hans Christian Andersen in 1805. Young Book Trust have put together a list of titles to mark the day, under headings like "Refugees and Conflict" and "Immigrants' Tales". Copies of the list are available free if you send an sae to Young Book Trust, Book House, 45 East Hill, London SW18 2QZ or the Scottish Book Centre, 137 Dundee St, Edinburgh EH11 1BG