All the World

Starred review from August 24, 2009
Tackling a topic no smaller than the world itself, Scanlon (A Sock Is a Pocket for Your Toes
) and Frazee (A Couple of Boys Have the Best Week Ever
) invite children to explore a variety of its settings, starting with a beach where a young interracial family plays: “A moat to dig, a shell to keep/ All the world is wide and deep.” Tucked into a corner of the scene is a farmer's market, which becomes the focus of a subsequent spread (“Tomato blossom, fruit so red/ All the world's a garden bed”). This clever linking of Frazee's blithesome watercolor and pencil-streaked illustrations echoes the book's larger goal: to show the world's connectivity. The lively verse is consistently reassuring, even as life's stumbling blocks get their moment (“Slip, trip, stumble, fall/ Tip the bucket, spill it all/ Better luck another day/ All the world goes round this way”). Frazee's warm, endearing vignettes—a mother studying with her baby, grandparents embracing in their bathrobes—are a joyous counterpart to Scanlon's text. Together they create an empathic, welcoming whole. Ages 3–7.

Starred review from August 1, 2009
K-Gr 2-Charming illustrations and lyrical rhyming couplets speak volumes in celebration of the world and humankind, combining to create a lovely book that will be appreciated by a wide audience. The pictures, made with black Prismacolor pencil and watercolors, primarily follow a multicultural family from a summer morning on the beach through a busy day and night. A boy, his younger sister, and their parents experience a farmer's market, a lakeside pavilion, a soaking rain, a warm meal in a cozy café, a gathering of musical kin, and a quiet night at home. The hand-lettered text in dark gray is large and mobile as it moves readers along through the captivating vignettes. Other families are also depicted, and readers can follow many of their activities as they overlap and connect with the main characters. The folks in this small, diverse community experience what a summer day has to offer, including sun, wind, storm, and a sense of contentment and well-being. A double-page moon- and starlit illustration shows an overview of all the featured locales highlighted in this small slice of the world. Perfection."Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2009
Preschool-G Its arguable to what degree young children feel part of a wider world, but this gentle exercise should at least get them thinking about it. Scanlon uses a pleasing rhythm to move from normal-life specifics all the way to more existential concepts. Small illustrations of a family entering a restaurant are paired with everyday notions (Table, bowl, cup spoon / Hungry tummy, suppers soon / Butter, flour, big black pot) before a page turn offers a panoramic spread of the restaurant and the woods surrounding it: All the world is cold and hot. Its a catchy pattern perfect for reading aloud while pointing out the children hiding within the illustrations. Spanned across large, horizontal pages, Frazees black pencil and watercolor drawings have the thick texture necessary to believably portray wind, rain, and clouds, and provide a solid grounding for text that occasionally gets a bit intangible: All the world is everything / Everything is you and me. Adults should enjoy this, too, which will only increase its popularity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)