Pippi Longstocking, from Sweden; the Moomins from Finland; that diminutive Norwegian, Mrs Pepperpot; or Heidi, fresh from her Swiss mountainside – these foreign stars of children’s literature were popular fixtures on British bookshelves at the end of the last century. So where are the new international children’s stories for tonight’s bedtime reading?

In a push against the complacent view that work first written in English is enough for Britain’s children, the country’s foremost early reading charity is to launch a campaign to bring over translations of more books from around the globe.

“There are so many other written languages on this planet, we know it is not feasible that the best books all start in English. We are simply missing out if we don’t find them,” said Emma Langley, an international literature expert at Arts Council England.

The new BookTrust project, In Other Words, is funded by ACE and intends to pay for sample translations of 10 “outstanding” foreign works to be shown to British publishing houses at the Bologna book fair in Italy next spring. From this weekend, the trust is inviting literary editors, agents and talent scouts working outside Britain to submit their best works for children aged six to 12. These will then be judged by a panel of experts, chaired by the critic Nicolette Jones and including Langley and the award-winning translators Sarah Ardizzone and Daniel Hahn.

The scheme is to be introduced to British publishers next month. Any that go on to acquire the rights to publish one of the stories will be given a £1,500 grant from BookTrust to promote the author and translator and help with publicity.

“We want to bring the best art possible to England, so that means the best children’s books in translation,” said Langley. “It is bound to broaden your horizons, but I was not thinking about that when I enjoyed reading about Asterix, and the Moomins, or the Jules Verne adventures as a child. The question now is, where are we going to find the Asterix and Moomins of today? There are a lot of us who bleat about this issue, so it’s great to see something practical happening.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pippi Longstocking, Emil and the Detectives and the Neverending Story

Evidence suggests that when the right books are made available, a young audience is there in numbers. Revered German children’s author Cornelia Funke is best known for her Inkheart (Tintenherz) fantasy trilogy, made into an English language film in 2008, but her other novels, including The Thief Lord, are also popular. French writer Daniel Pennac, celebrated across the channel, is better appreciated in Britain since his 1984 novel, Eye of the Wolf, was translated by Sarah Ardizzone (née Adams) in 2002, winning her the British Marsh Award for Children’s Literature in Translation.

But it can take a while for the British market to catch on. Last week, worldwide fans of German writer Michael Ende’s The Neverending Story marked the story’s 37th birthday, but it wasn’t translated into English until 1983, when it became the basis of a well-loved English-language film. The Letter for the King, by Dutch author Tonke Dragt, had to wait still longer to reach English readers. It was written more than 50 years ago and has had great success all over Europe, but was only translated into English in 2014.

“The key is getting samples of text translated and then seen and recommended by trusted critics,” said Langley. “[But] you don’t get many British editors who can read well in other languages because of the global dominance of English. In other countries, editors are more likely to read English books.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Neverending Story trailer

For Langley, fostering working relationships with translators is the key to success. “This is quite a specialist and important part of this kind of publishing, and having the BookTrust grant will be crucial. We are playing a very long game, but this is the first step. If we can get the publishers to read the samples, that is a great thing. Just having them on their desks will make it easier for them because they are now so busy and have so much to read,” she said.

While British parents are often happy to accept foreign classics of children’s literature, such as Erich Kästner’s Emil and the Detectives or Jean de Brunhoff’s Babar the Elephant, they are perhaps unaware that other greats works are out there. The international dominance of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series could be behind this attitude, although savage cuts in staffing at publishing houses are also to blame. Editors rarely have the resources for a foreign fishing trip.

And good foreign books do not have to be classics of the future. An entertaining read also has its place. Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbø’s debut children’s book, Doctor Proctor’s Fart Powder, has been a hit. Among those yet to emerge in the English market are the acclaimed works of the late Portuguese poet and novelist Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, and Swedish author Einar Norelius’s Petter och hans Fyra Getter (Peter and his Four Goats).