Social Justice

If the World Were a Village:
A Book about the World's People

David J. Smith
Illustrated by Shelagh Armstrong
Kids Can Press Ltd, Toronto, ON and Tonawanda, NY, 2002

Reviewed by Jacqui James
Resource Development Consultant
Lifespan Faith Development, UUA
Boston, MA

Earth is a crowded place, and it is getting more crowded all the time. As of January 1, 2002, the world's population was 6 billion, 200 million. Numbers this big are hard to understand, but what if we imagine the whole population of the world as a village of just 100 people.

If the World Were a Village is a wonderful resource for helping our children gain world-mindedness, which is an attitude, an approach to life. This book is demographics for children, picture-book style. It reduces large numbers to a more meaningful microcosm - helping us to know whom our neighbors are, as well as where and how they live. For example, of the world-village's 100 people, only 5 would be from the United States and Canada.

The author's approach is instructive and fascinating; the book is written in the hope that better understanding of our global village will help us live in peace. The book's illustrations and calculations include:
Nationalities
Languages
Air and Water
Ages
Religions
Food
Schooling and Literacy
Money and Possessions, and
Electricity

The author offers guidelines and examples of activities to use in teaching children about the global village. The illustrations are wonderfully matched to the text. This is a excellent resource for our RE libraries in our UU congregations.