School Days Around the World

In this companion to Children Around the World and Families Around the World, Ruurs introduces 14 children from various countries, based on real individuals, who describe what school is like for them. Feagan’s crisp, digitally assembled cut-paper collages give the children cheerful, puppetlike appearances and provide a sense of school environments that range from a fancy German boarding school to the house where two homeschooled Alaskan girls study. Mathii, who lives at an orphanage in Kenya, describes his morning routine (“The sun is barely up when I hurry to school to sweep the floors”), while in Shanghai, a boy named Lu explains that “classical music plays over the intercom” at his public school between classes. A lighthearted overview of school-day life that will leave readers considering how their routines compare to those of their global peers. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)