Our beautiful world by Sarah Speedie and Margeaux Davis

How difficult it must have been to select only 11 environments to present in this overview of the wonderful colours which make up our world. Those chosen are, Uluru in Australia, Chilean grapevines, a bamboo forest in China, the white cliffs of the coast of England, fields of sunflowers in Italy, Canada’s snow fields, cherry blossom in Japan, the blue ocean around the islands of Fiji, tea leaves being collected in Sri Lanka, Morocco’s golden sand hills, the orange skies of South Africa.

A double page is devoted to each of these spots around the world, showing families and children playing and working in their country, each emblazoned with colour, underlining the idea of the huge palette of colours which make up our world.  Each double page includes animals and birds redolent of the place while the people in their national costumes are placed against some of the things which are recognisably their own. So on the page devoted to Morrocco and its golden sandhills we see the vista described plus a family stopping for lunch in a small oasis. The children are rolling down the hill, the women looking after the children and getting lunch, while an older man teaches children on their mats. The whole, with a camel resting in the shade is redolent of a Moroccan landscape and will teach children about the customs of these people. Another page shows the snowfields of Canada, with warmly dressed children doing a range of activities in the snow. Again it presents a double page which envcourages children to recognise similarities and differences between their own lives and those shown on the page.

This is a vibrant book of colour, each page evoking a sense of awe as the two rhyming lines describe where this scene is to be found. The book reinforces that we are all living on this planet, each may be different but essentially we have much in common, not least of which is to look after the many environments our world provides. Teacher's notes are available.

Themes: World, Colour, Environment, Inclusivity.

Fran Knight