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. (Sept.)
