Pass the Bread!

School Library Journal

Gr 2-5-Bread and shelter, two of the most basic aspects of daily life, are depicted in all their global variety. Bright and colorful photographs dominate each page and demonstrate the cultural diversity developed in answer to these universal needs. Bread explores the different grains and other plants used to make this product around the world, as well as its different flavors. Ann Morris's Bread, Bread, Bread (Lothrop, 1989) is a photo essay on bread around the world, depicting strong ethnic diversity. Welcome Home looks at the ways people have designed their homes in response to the particular climate in which they live, with the natural resources at hand. Shelters made from manufactured materials are also depicted, whether from concrete and steel or cardboard and used tires. Readers see how population density and family size affect housing design, as well as the effects of religious beliefs, social status, and occupation. Arthur Dorros's This Is My House (Scholastic, 1992) has full-page, full-color illustrations of houses from around the world, for younger readers. Harvey Weiss's Shelters (Crowell, 1988) covers fewer particular designs of houses, but shows precisely how each one is constructed, providing more in-depth coverage with narrower range. The texts in both books are lively and clear, and the authors do well in depicting the world's peoples as being both very similar and very different.-Joyce Adams Burner, Hillcrest Library, Prarie Village, KS