What Parents Should Know
We found no objectionable content in this book.
Little ones will marvel at the idea of skiing or sailing to school as they follow the simple but rhythmic text. Friendly illustrations encourage children to imagine how other kids live.
Common Sense Media Review
At first glance, this book has a winning concept: Let's take
a look at all the ways children around the world travel to and
from school! But the presentation leaves much to be
desired.
A poorly designed world map with a numbered key to all the children's locations requires readers to flip from the map to a list of names to a page featuring a particular child. Also, nearly half the locations are in the United States, an excessive sampling for a book with "Children Around the World" in the subtitle.
And because the book has not been updated, errors such as the reference to a nation called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics persist. The author also wrote a Spanish-English bilingual edition, Asi Vamos a La Escuela, published in 1999, which may be more up-to-date.
The illustrations, each with one or more grinning, gnome-nosed children, set a cheerful mood but don't provide useful information: Ellen, from Hawaii, could just as easily have lived in Florida, judging by the vague splash-of-color flowers she admires, and when Akinyi sprints for the train that'll carry her across a mountain chain, the area that springs to mind is Japan--that she's Kenyan comes as a complete surprise.
Common Sense Media is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing information to help parents make media and entertainment choices for their families.
