Celebrating; Carrying; Smiling; Eating

Diversity of cultural experiences and the commonality that ties us together are beautifully captured in the photographs that form the basis of these small format picture books in the 'Small World' series. A section at the back of each book tells us more about each picture such as where it was taken. There is also a brief note to adults on the end page about sharing the book with children. The text in both scripts sit clearly on a parchment coloured background - particularly welcome for dyslexic children for whom print on white paper can be bothersome. All the titles are available in the following dual language editions: Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, Gujarat, Punjabi, Turkish, Urdu and Vietnamese.

In Carrying, we are shown the varied loads that people carry as well as different ways of carrying them. Smiling asks what kind of things make us smile, recognising also that nobody smiles all the time - it's fine to be sad sometimes. In Eating, we learn about the variety of foods eaten around the world. The collection of photographs illustrates the richness of experiences, both in terms of types of food and ways of cooking and eating. In Celebrating, we discover how small and important events can be the basis of celebration, and that there are a myriad number of reasons for and ways of marking special events and feelings. This is an excellent series of books, lovely to hold and share.