This month we’re turning the spotlight on our latest beautiful book, This is My World. It’s a book like nothing we’ve made before. We wanted to connect with real children and their families from all across the globe, and showcase their everyday lives.
In this fascinating and fun collection, 84 children from incredibly diverse backgrounds share their stories and photos of what’s unique about their lives – from local festivals and hobbies to their favourite sports and food. These personal portraits also reveal the many things children have in common, no matter where they're from.
But don’t take our word for it, have a look yourself with our video:
Check out what Kirkus, the American book review magazine, said about This is My World:
A thoroughly contemporary look at the world's children. Children from 73 countries, some rarely represented in children's books, including Malawi, Kosovo, Barbados, and Papua New Guinea, talk about their lives. Each double-page spread is devoted to one child and is jammed with photos of different sizes, a small flag, and a globe pointing out the country where they live. There is an emphasis on different types of families: Yared's single-mom family in Ethiopia, Jack's single-dad family in Fiji, Jenisha's extended-family unit in Nepal, and many blended families with stepparents and half -siblings.
Diversity exists within families with parents from different cultures. In New Zealand, Anneke's parents are Samoan/Tokolauan and British/Japanese. There are urban and rural families, and at least one lives in a refugee camp. The children describe the commonalities of their lives: food, school, games, families. A necessary purchase for those interested in educating global citizens.
The British book review site Toppsta has also given us glowing reviews, with five stars and these comments from teacher SueJC and - most importantly - 11-year-old Munchkin Megan:
A beautiful big book with lots of lovely illustrations. I intend to use the book to teach my preschool pupils about different cultures and customs, but shared it with my four-year-old grandson during the summer holidays. Although living in a city he is familiar with a number of different cultures he still had lots of questions and comments about the children pictured and their lives. I suspect my own pupils, coming from a predominantly white rural area, will get even more intrigued. So much in this book to spark their curiosity.
I loved this book and I think I'll be returning to it many times in the future. I think every school library should have a copy and I think it would make a great starter activity for a PSHE project on children around the world. I found this book super interactive as not only could you learn about children around the world but you could see exactly where they were from the inclusion of a map in the corner of the page as well as the nation/ territory’s flag which was wonderful.
If all this inspires your children to tell their own story, we’ve created a template so they can fill in their very own interview scrapbook.
Or, if they love to talk about their travels, head over to our blog and check out our Postcard from… series where children write about their trips. If your children want to get involved, have a read of our guidelines here and get them writing or drawing.
