This Is My World

This appealing book takes the reader around the world to visit children in 70 countries across six continents. While each visit starts with the highlighted child's age, locale, and family, each one continues with other things the child thinks are important—pets, interests, school, home, food, etc. Several talk about their family traditions or heritage. The book has a fairly balanced number of profiles from each continent, and includes children with disabilities or living in unique circumstances plus various familial and housing situations. The format is engaging, with each page filled with photographs (provided by the families and other sources) and bright colors. The book is organized alphabetically by the child's name and includes an index and map. The map lists the children by continent and country then color codes their location. The editors have added a few explanations of terms that readers might be unfamiliar with, such as when individuals describe themselves as being a griot or Maori. Children of ages similar to those in the book (mostly ages 8-11) will enjoy pouring over the map, pictures, and descriptions. This book would offer great support or expansion for teachers with units on cultures around the world. As a social studies or writing assignment students could create their own write-up about themselves, their parents, or their grandparents. A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to help children from war-torn areas.