Book Review: Global Friendship Vol 5 United Kingdom – Zambia by H. Aitoro
Disclosure: I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway on the premise that I would review it. (Technically I won Vol 3, but I’m certainly not going to complain about a free book!)
This is a part of a series of books aimed at children 4 to 7 years of age, to introduce them to the concept of international relations and cultural diversity. It was published in the United Kingdom, so may be difficult to get hold of in the United States. (You can tell by the little things, like calling your mother “Mum.”) This volume covers the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Vietnam, West Samoa, Yemen and Zambia.
Each country gets an outline of its borders, a picture of its flag, introductions to typical children in their national costumes, pictures of a few landmarks and stock phrases in the local language. The national costume of England is a gray business suit with bowler hat and umbrella, but his Welsh, Irish and Scots counterparts are a bit more colorful.
The art is simple, with all the children having identical faces. The language is also simple, but be warned that most of the foreign words do not have pronunciation guides. Parents should probably look up the words before reading this to their children. The paragraphing is off on the introduction of children pages– Each new person speaking should have their own paragraph, even in children’s books.
At the end of the book is a world map that gives a better idea where these countries are.
This is, as said above, an introductory series of books for small children. Ideally, your kid will become interested in one or more of the countries shown, so that they and their parents can learn more details about that place and its people. Or maybe they’ll just start singing the “Small World” song over and over.
I sense a strong dose of sacarsm in this review ‘Or maybe they’ll just sing the Small World song over and over. I purchased the book from Amazon.com so Americans can purchase it.Its a beautiful book. Its not perfect but its content is great for teaching children about the world. My son and I are not singing any songs but the information has inspired us to learn more about different cultures and places. You stated ‘The national costume of England is a gray business suit with bowler hat and umbrella’ but the book doesn’t state that the national costume of England is a grey business suit with a bowler hat and umbrella. If you look at the Irish girl she is not dressed in national costume eithershe is wearing the dress of an Irish dancer. England do not have a national costume so the author has obviously used the image of the classic inage of the English man in a bowler hat though no one dresses as such these days. A review is to inform the reader whether the book is interesting, relevant, engaging, well written or worthy of purchase.
Thanks for commenting!
I am very pleased that this book is available via Amazon; it’s a worthy project.
I’ve noticed in other British childrens’ works that when they have gatherings of international children in costume, the English kid is given the business suit and bowler, so it’s certainly not just here.
If I seem a bit sarcastic in my review, perhaps it is because I have no children of my own to test these things on. I’m happy to hear that your son enjoyed the book, as it is the people who a book is aimed at who are the best reviewers.