Children Just Like Me

Children Just Like Me	DK Publishing, Inc
Written by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley	1995
Informational	80 pages
Reading Level age 8-11

Summary

This is an amazing book. The authors spent two years traveling around the world, taking pictures of children from different countries. There is information on each child; such as their home, parents, favorite food, and their name written by the children. It gives a glimpse into children’s lives in other places and the opportunity to see the similarities and differences compared to children around the world and me. My favorite pages were the region pages. These pages have information on places that are famous and identifiable in the area, such as the Taj Mahal. It also has a description of the plants or animals that live in the area and a list of many different children that aren’t described in detail. These pages introduce the next region of the world and other children from that place. The authors made the pictures with a white background and uniform. Each page had the same outline and information so it was easy to read and find what information I wanted to look at first. At the end, there is a travel log of the writer’s journey and quotes about different days and parts of their journey around the world. The page that I spent the most time looking at was Esta from Tanzania. She lives with her mother and two younger siblings. She wears beaded necklaces telling how old she is. She walks to school and is learning how to speak Swahili. She lives in a hut made of made of poles, cow dung and grasses, where her family tends cows, sheep and goats.

Reaction

I spent hours reading this book. It is fascinating and informational. It was a great way to learn more about different children and how they have some of the same thoughts and dreams that I had. It is a good reference to different countries and the family environments there.

Potential problems

I didn’t find any. All the children were depicted as smiling and happy. They were content with their life and have bright hopes for the future.

Recommendations

I would recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about other countries and the children that live there.