Take your kid on a fascinating journey that looks at how other kids live and learn this weekend – it’s a valuable lesson, and may even spark some … thanksgiving.
Off to Class
by Susan Hughes
OwlKids
ISBN: 978 1 926818 86 3
Audience: grade schoolers
Children go to school all around the world – but not all schools look the same. This book highlights some typical schools in countries and places very different from Canada, showing the differences and the similarities to where our kids spend their days. As well as this world view of learning, we are introduced to a few unusual schools closer to home – a homeschool classroom in a treehouse, and a highly ecologically-minded school in Ontario, for example.
While the book is interesting in its focus, and features lots of pictures of children at work and at play in school, my favourite parts are the interesting and innovative ways in which schools have been designed to accommodate atypical situations. Portable schools for far-flung towns and settlements, school boats in monsoon season, cave schools in mountains, and a specially-designed school for children with sensory impairments are a few amazing examples that raises this book from standard non-fiction fare to a great book for browsing and sharing, and a strong starting point for talking about how people live.
Thanks for reviewing my book, Alice. I included as many quotations from kids around the world as I could. I love the idea of kids talking to other kids through the pages of books!
Susan Hughes