If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States (CitizenKid)

This timely follow-up to "If the World Were a Village" offers a thought-provoking perspective on the people who make up America. Organized by overarching questions such as Where do we come from? and What do we use? the text illustrates the ethnic divisions, income levels and material consumption (among other categories) of Americans, were America a theoretical village containing only 100 people. In a section on religion, bullet-points demonstrate the breakdown of religious persuasions within America -- 82 consider themselves Christians... 2 are Buddhists... 1 is Jewish -- followed by a comparison with the whole world (if it were a village). Armstrong's cheerful, smudgy paintings balance the texts heaviness, and an afterword directed at adult readers provides suggestions for imparting the important but complex message to children. Ages 8-12. "(Aug.)"

Copyright 2009 Publishers Weekly Used with permission.

Gr 2-6 As in "If the World Were a Village", Smith and Armstrong help children understand large statistical numbers by collapsing the U.S. population of 300 million down to a village of 100. For example, "82 people in our village speak English as their first language, 10 speak Spanish. 1 speaks Chinese, 1 French and 1 German." Other languages that represent less than one whole person are also mentioned. Topics explored include family make-up, religions, jobs, ages, wealth, items owned, energy and water use, and health. Comparisons are sometimes made with historical data to show change and with worldwide numbers for contrast. Lively, cheerful acrylic paintings depict the diversity of our country in a somewhat idealized manner that suits the all-inclusive tone of the book. While the concept is successful in making huge numbers more comprehensible, statistics are known to be slippery, and attempts to classify people by race and ethnic and cultural groups are not always straightforward. Does the term "Hispanic" identify a distinct group? Some say yes, others no; Smith identifies the village as having 75 white members, 12 black, 4 Asian, 1 Native American, and 8 who consider themselves "members of some other race or of mixed race," noting that he's including Hispanics with whites. While readers may or may not agree with Smith's interpretations of the figures, he lists extensive bibliographic resources and provides suggestions for ways to engage children in considering their country and its place in the larger world. At the very least, the book will provoke discussion; ideally, it will inspire deeper thought and consideration of "what distinguishes America from other countries and Americans from other people.""Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA"

Copyright 2009 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.