Horn Book (Wed Apr 01 00:00:00 CDT 2015)

This picture book presents a collection of brief profiles of families around the world. Simple text and bright illustrations in mixed media, including cut-paper collage, make the various child narrators accessible and friendly. Devoting each spread to a different family and country allows for great diversity but limits the depth of information, and some of the text feels repetitive. Suggested activities are appended. Glos.

ALA Booklist (Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

A companion book to Donata Montanari's Children around the World (2001), this colorful volume introduces families living in 14 nations: Canada, the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, England, the Netherlands, France, Poland, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Kenya, Pakistan, Mongolia, and South Korea. After a brief introduction and a lively world map connecting pictures of children with their home countries, each double-page spread features a different family. Boys and girls serve as hosts, greeting the reader ("Bonjour," "Assalamu alaikum," "Shalom") and telling a little about their families, such as what they eat and what they do together. Showing families engaged in everyday activities, the collage illustrations also offer clues about the culture, the climate, and the level of technology in each locale. An appended glossary defines the few non-English words ("My family lives in a ger") within the text, though the meanings are often clear from the context and illustrations. Inclusive in showing many different family structures, this large-format book offers an amiable introduction to families around the globe.

School Library Journal (Mon Sep 01 00:00:00 CDT 2014)

PreS-Gr 2 This large-format picture book presents a variety of families from around the world: biracial, single parent, multigenerational, and more. Fourteen families are included, all based on real people whom the author interviewed. For each family, simple text describes common activities, such as cooking food, visiting relatives, or going to school, infusing these universal experiences with culturally specific details. For instance, a Brazilian family sips maracuja (passion fruit) juice. Another family, who emigrated from China to Canada, eats lasagna with chopsticks, while J-Ch'eel, a Mexican girl living in a Mayan village, wakes up and puts on her huipil (helpfully defined in the glossary as a "traditionally embroidered shirt or dress"). The book also contains a map, with spot illustrations of all the children, that shows where they live. Rendered in a combination of acrylic paint, cut paper, pencil crayon, and ink, and using copious amounts of white space, the colorful collages pop from the page. This title will be an effective window on the world and an introduction to nonfiction text features, such as a glossary, a table of contents, and bolded headings. An author's note suggests activities to help guide children "toward a better understanding of the world around us," including a poem about families. An attractive and informative multicultural offering. Toby Rajput, National Louis University, Skokie, IL