My World, Your World

This is a book with good intentions. It is aimed at drawing the attention of the very young to the fundamental similarities of children around the world, while pointing out some of the obvious differences. The illustrations are simple, filling each spread with bold blocks of colour against which the text stands out clearly. Although the blurb invites us to ‘spot the differences and similarities between children all around the world’ there is little in the way of visual reference to the diversity of their environments. The faces of all the children are the same, their hair and clothes defining their cultural/national identity. So it’s not surprising to come across stereotypical depictions: a French boy in stripy shirt, an Indian boy in a turban riding an elephant… Presumably, the idea is to enable very young children to relate to the children in the book, make some connection; this is hard for children to do if they don’t see themselves there. The very young may be drawn to simple, bold colour illustrations but I don’t think this title achieves its purpose successfully. It would have been better to go with authentic photographs to illustrate the points being made; at least then the diversity of faces, experiences and environments would provide a useful context for meaningful discussion.