Children from Australia to Zimbabwe

Children's Literature - Beverly Kobrin

In their afterword, Maya Ajmera and Anna Rhesa Versola note that in 1994, publishing a "photographic journey around the world" was just an idea. Two years later, it became a reality, thanks to the support and cooperation of hundreds of individuals and groups, including 1) the nonprofit SHAKTI for Children, an organization that teaches young people to value diversity and become productive, caring, world citizens, 2) a Durham N.C. elementary school's faculty and students, and 3) mostly-Peace-Corps volunteers who contributed more than 1700 photographs of children. Their impressive collaboration allows young armchair travelers to visit 26 countries, including the imaginary Xanadu where they will learn where each place is located, see the flag it flies, meet some of its children, and learn a little about its language, topography, and traditions-trips worth taking.

Children's Literature - Marilyn Courtot

It's an alphabet book and a visit to twenty-five real countries and one imaginary (Xanadu). How delightful to see a book filled with many happy, smiling children enjoying their days. Each spread presents a topographic map that shows the capitol and other major cities, a representation of the country flag, and several brightly colored photographs of kids. There are kids playing, eating, celebrating holidays, and frequently mugging for the camera. The authors have provided an easily digested collection of facts that relate to the photographs and a list of other countries whose names start with the featured letter. While there are differences in life styles, what really comes through are the similarities among children around the world. A useful addition to a social studies curriculum, and a book that kids can spend hours browsing.

School Library Journal

Gr 3-6Children from 25 alphabetically arranged countries are introduced through beautiful, full-color pictures. A map of the world highlights the countries profiled. Each nation receives a two-page spread that includes a map, flag, a few paragraphs describing the people who live there, and four or five photographs. Each selection also contains additional facts: capital, language, population, number of children in the country, favorite sports, and an environmental tidbit. Finally, other countries whose names begin with the same letter are listed. The writing is unexciting, consisting primarily of brief declarative sentences, but the tone and content reflect respect for and knowledge of the concerns of children. In a particularly nice touch, the word "Hello" is written in the country's dominant language and spelled out phonetically. To represent the letter X, the authors provide excerpts from writings by elementary school students who describe the imaginary country of Xanadu. An afterword suggests books and activities that might help children explore other cultures and become a "global citizen." There is not enough substance here to do more than motivate readers to further exploration of a particular country, but perhaps that is enough.Linda Greengrass, Bank Street College Library, New York City

Kirkus Reviews

At first glance, this looks like an ABC book, but the alphabet plays a distant second to a combination gazetteer and cultural geography. Each of 26 countries is covered in a spread that includes a greeting in the appropriate language, a map, and several full-color photographs of children in typical settings and situations; the result is an encounter with the local dress, transportation, and architecture, as well as a glimpse of the work and play of children. Ajmera and Versola offer a gold mine of interesting national nuggets—that Zimbabwe means "stone houses," that girls and women in Yemen decorate their hands with swirls of henna, that Budapest is really two cities, Buda and Pest, split by the Danube—and include concise regional and ethnic histories, with X standing for the "imaginary" country of Xanadu. A short fact sheet for every country relays one particularly fascinating item: the proportion of children to the population as a whole, giving readers instant understanding of population pyramids, e.g., Russia has 34 million children out of an overall population of 147 million, while Oman has 1 million children in a population of 2 million. A pleasing and hopeful book—sugar-coated as it may be—with a feel-good global outlook.