I was surprised there wasn't a child from Russia, but overall there was pretty good diversity in terms of nationalities, types of schools, and socioeconomic status.

Note: I received a digital review copy of this book through NetGalley. ( )

This is a really great book. I live that there are so many different types of education mentioned here and not just public schools. The illustrations were also a great addition to the book (and the children all looked so happy in the pictures). Although this is more of a ‘surface view’ of some differences, it’s important to remember to also discuss the similarities. I think this book would be a great introduction book.

The title of this book describes this book perfectly. It is all about different cultures around the world and how they learn in school. For example, Lu goes to public school in Shanghai, China where the school has more than 200,000 students and 43 children in his classroom. Each day he studies eight different languages. When it is time to change subjects, there is no bell that rings, instead classical music plays over the intercom. It just goes to show that anywhere you go, you can get an education. I enjoyed reading about how different cultures relay their education in their schools. It just goes to show that "teachers and students all over the world make every school special" (Ruurs 36). ( )

School Days Around the World is a book that full of school children from all different parts of the world. We are introduced to Marta in Azezo, Ethiopia, and Luciano in Merida, Venezuela, to Alina in Taraz, Kazakhstan, and Lu in Shanghai, China. On each spread of the book, a different child gives the reader a look in to a typical school day in his/her city and country. This is truly a multicultural book. While there are major differences, all the children share similar desires to learn, read, and play with others. ( )

There is not a universal definition for the world "school." Students from all over the world experience school in countless different ways. In this book, we see what a day in a life of school looks like for many different countries. This book includes countries such as; America, Cook Islands, Kenya, Ethiopia, Honduras, Germany, and many more. For example, a lot of children in Germany go to school for a way from their homes. They leave their families and live at school with roommates.
This book is very stereotypical. For every country they a have two full pages of illustrations of the children and schools. For example, I find it really hard to believe that in Denmark EVERY person is white with blonde hair. The United States pages literally portrays children that are only white. Yes, they have children from all over the world in this book but when it came to their country each page had only one race.
What I did like about this book was the diverse culture. The author and illustrator did a great job showing all of the different cultures and geography of the country. For example China's page shows great depictions of their clothing and lifestyle. Overall, I do not think I would read this book to my students simply because it is not accurate. There is no country in this world that has just one race and that is exactly what this book is portraying. ( )