30 Days of Picture Books - One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley

It's Day 11 of Picture Book Month, and today we're thinking globally. We all know the world's a place of incredible diversity and variety, but what does that mean, really? Well, to me it means that we all do different things, but that the essence of us, our humanness is very much the same, no matter where we live. We all love, laugh, grieve, celebrate, ponder and dream -- while the circumstances surrounding those emotions may differ, the end result, our emotions, are universal.

One of the things that's important to us as parents is helping Sprout learn to be a global citizen. We want him to identify not just as an American but as a resident of the world. And a key piece of helping him develop that sensibility is making connections between the life we live, the aspects of our daily routine, and that of people around the globe.

Today's pick is a book that facilitates just that mindset, and does it in a simple yet powerful fashion. One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley is published by the National Geographic Society, and as you might expect, it is filled with truly amazing photography. The narrative is straightforward: Kerley breaks a day down into its typical components, such as breakfast, school, afternoon activities, dinner, family time. For each period of time, she incorporates photos taken from various countries, using each photo to illustrate how the same activity might be accomplished in different ways by children in different regions.

The result is absolutely astounding. As most kids do, Sprout really enjoys looking at photos of other children, and these pictures are by turns hilarious and transfixing. One of his favorite spreads shows children on their way home from school; while a little girl in one photo is skipping home, wearing her Hello Kitty backpack, the other photo is of dozens of children packed onto the back of a cart, beaming brightly into the camera. The captions reveal that the first picture is from Portland, Oregon, while the second was taken in New Delhi, India. Quite disparate parts of the world, obviously, and yet the same message is conveyed in each picture - a small child's total joy at the end of the school day!

If your goal is to raise a global citizen, picture books are an important component to the process. Don't miss this book, or the other richly photographed titles by Barbara Kerley. You're bound to find them just as entrancing as your kiddos will!

One World, One Day by Barbara Kerley, published by the National Geographic Society