Abstract This paper explores the textual-linguistic norms evident in the translation of culturally specific material in a sample of translated South African children's books in Afrikaans and English, with a view to investigating the tensions between domestication and foreignisation, particularly as related to different types of books, such as primers, local picture books, and international picture books. A detailed qualitative textual analysis of micro-level translation choices relating to cultural orientation is presented, comparing the 21 translations in the sample with their source texts, and comparing subsamples of different types of books with one another. The analysis suggests the prevalence of hybrid translation strategies that orient translated texts in multiple cultural directions, but also indicates potentially significant differences in this regard between different types of books, with translations of international picture books tending towards greater use of domesticating strategies, despite their generally culturally generic background.