Book That Teaches Kids What the World Eats

With Thanksgiving around the corner, I thought the book I am profiling today was particularly timely.    It gives kids an incredible perspective of what food consumption is like, not only in other countries, but also for families with different resources.  Your children will see their abundant table in a new light.

I did a post a few years back on books that help kids make smarter food choices.  Some of the books I  profiled were adaptations of adult books such as Omnivore's Dilemma.  Now that we are so removed from the origin of our food choices, it is important to help kids understand what their food selections mean.  Check out that post here: Books That Help Kids Make Better Food Choices

Don't forget to Follow One Great Book on Facebook, Twitter, Google + and Pinterest for all the books that will make the brussel sprouts seems like a pretty good deal.  It really is a Thanksgiving miracle.

Title:What the World Eats

Author:Faith D’Aluisio and Peter Menzel

Target: Grades 4-8

Series:No

What this book is about: 
This book chronicles in photographs and text what families around the world eat in a typical week.  It moves all around the globe from Chad to Australia, from France to Guatemala and from China to the US.  The photographs of the families surrounded by their weekly food allowance is humbling and telling about the how they procure their food, how they choose what to eat and how they gage their economic prosperity.

Why I love this book:  
My daughter cannot stop looking through all the pictures in this book.  It is a wonderful jumping off point to talk about nutrition, food choices and the lives of these families in other countries.  

When she sees what a family in a refuge camp in Chad has for a week in contrast to a family in the US, it is eye opening.  She is also amazed at the amounts of fruits and vegetables in Guatemala where they harvest their own food in contrast to Greenland where fruits and vegetables are mostly canned and they have no fertile land.  The amount of packaged food in industrialized nations is also shocking and the pictures provide a fascinating and straightforward way of communicating food choices with kids.

This book was introduced to my son by his fifth grade teacher several years ago.  On a trip to Norway, the book was featured in the gift shop at the Nobel Peace Prize Museum and my kids spent almost a half hour going through it.  I was afraid they were going to make us buy it or kick us out.  (For the record I would have been happy to buy it there, but it is heavy and I didn’t know how to fit it in my suitcase!)  So we got it when we returned home, and it has seen constant use ever since.

Who this book is for: 
Great for most kids.  The pictures will speak to younger kids and the charts on obesity, access to water, meat consumption, etc. will appeal to older kids.

Final thoughts:  
I adore books that take kids out of their reality.  This book does a beautiful job, without being preachy, of showing kids what life is really like for others who don’t share in the benefits that they do.  This book is the kid’s version of the adult book, Hungry Planet.

To purchase this book:

Click on the following link to connect to Amazon: What the World Eats  A portion of each purchase goes to support this blog at no cost to you.  Thank you for your support.