January 12, 2008—The American Library Association announced that The Cat: Or, How I Lost Eternity, written by Jutta Richter, illustrated by Rotraut Susanne Berner, and translated from the German by Anna Brailovsky, has been selected as a 2008 Batchelder Honor book for the most outstanding children's book translated from a foreign language and published in the United States.

The 2008 Mildred L. Batchelder winner is VIZ Media for Brave Story, written by Miyuki Miyabe and translated from the Japanese by Alexander O. Smith. Phaidon Press also received a Batchelder Honor for Nicholas and the Gang, written by René Goscinny, illustrated by Jean-Jacques Sempé, and translated from the French by Anthea Bell.

This award honors Mildred L. Batchelder, a former executive director of the Association for Library Service to Children, a believer in the importance of good books for children in translation from all parts of the world. She began her career working at Omaha (NE) Public Library, then as a children's librarian at St. Cloud (MN) State Teachers College, and subsequently as librarian of Haven Elementary School in Evanston, IL. She eventually joined the ranks of the American Library Association in 1936. Batchelder spent 30 years with ALA, working as an ambassador to the world on behalf of children and books, encouraging and promoting the translation of the world's best children's literature. Her life's work was "to eliminate barriers to understanding between people of different cultures, races, nations, and languages."

This award, established in her honor in 1966, is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States. ALSC gives the award to encourage American publishers to seek out superior children's books abroad and to promote communication among the peoples of the world.

The full list of award and honor winners from ALA

Jutta Richter's website (in German)