The Mildred L. Batchelder Award is presented annually to the United States publisher of an outstanding translated children's book. Translation is a difficult art that requires the translator to convey the spirit as well as the letter of the original work, represent another culture, and remain inconspicuous in the work. An analysis of the 42 books nominated for the Batchelder Award in its first decade (1968-1977) reveals that 30 books were originally written in Germanic languages and that only one was written in a nonwestern language. Settings for the majority of the award nominees and recipients were European. This bias, reflecting the actualities of cultural interchange, indicates that, in the importation of children's books written in other languages, the United States is a member of a Western European cultural constellation. Publishers in the United States are limited in publishing translated children's books due to production limitations in children's media and perceived financial risk in publishing foreign works. It is hoped that in the future there will be increased linguistic and cultural variety in children's books brought into the United States. (The paper includes tables showing the original languages and settings of all nominated books and an annotated listing of the nominees and award recipients.) (GW)