Back to School: A Global Journey

by Maya Ajmera, John D. Ivanko

Overview

BACK TO SCHOOL invites young minds to sit in the front row and share the exciting experience of learning with kids just like themselves all over the world. Whether they take a school bus, a boat, or a rickshaw to get there, kids around the globe are going to school and growing smarter and more curious every day.

Beautiful, joy-filled, color photographs of children studying, learning, exploring, and having fun from nation to nation, will inspire readers of all ages with the excitement of discovery and sharing new ideas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781580898409
Publisher:	Charlesbridge
Publication date:	06/04/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	441,874
Product dimensions:	8.50(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.16(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Maya Ajmera is the founder of The Global Fund for Children. She is the co-author of several Global Fund for Children books, including Faith, Global Babies, Children of the U.S.A., and Children from Australia to Zimbabwe.

John D. Ivanko is an award-winning photographer and author, writer, national speaker, and conservationist.He is the co-author (with Maya Ajmera) or photo contributor to nine Global Fund for Children books. With Maya Ajmera, he's co-authored the award-winning To Be a Kid, Be My Neighbor, To Be an Artist, Back to School, Animal Friends, and Come Out and Play.

Read an Excerpt

Going to school means learning about the world around you.

There are many kinds of schools... and lots of ways to get to them.

You might go to school in a uniform or wear your favorite outfit. 

Going to school means learning from teachers, classmates, books, and computers.

Editorial Reviews

Across the globe, schools and the children that attend them are similar and different in so many ways. Organized by simple statements regarding what, where, and how children study, the book offers photos featuring a wide range of children, from Indigenous children in Brazil to children of multiple races in the United States. Although the pictures and their clear, informative captions are grouped according to commonalities, they also accurately represent how class, culture, and faith influence everything from school uniforms to what it means to be a good citizen. The final pages contain longer, more detailed text that caregivers can use to supplement the facts that are already presented in the book. The book's illustrations are carefully curated to represent a wide range of regions, faiths, and skin colors, all within an age range that seems to be middle elementary. Laudably, the children pictured in the photos span economic strata as well as geography: The book shows children of different class levels studying in the global south as well as more developed countries. It is refreshing to see images of students studying in a night school in India and a UNESCO-funded school in Rwanada juxtaposed with photographs of what appear to be private school students in India and South Africa. This edition updates a 2001 volume of the same name with a preponderance of new photos, a colorful design, lightly massaged text, and an expanded trim size.This simple, informative photo essay realistically portrays children's experiences of schooling around the world. 
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

PreS-Gr 3-Clear, colorful photographs capture the day-to-day life of schoolchildren around the globe. The book has a minimal text and one or two captioned photos per page. Various types of schools and classrooms are pictured including a group of students studying outdoors in Mali and a homeschooling situation in France. How children get to class is described and illustrated with examples ranging from a horse-drawn wagon in Bolivia and a boat in Peru to a school bus in the U.S. What children wear and what they do once they get there are also explored. A great back-to-school title for teachers to share with their students.-Christina F. Renaud, Millis Public Schools, MA Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

School Library Journal

06/24/2019

This photographic survey updated from 2001 uses simple captions (“Doing long-division math in Jordan”) and images from a variety of sources to celebrate some ways that schools globally ignite children’s curiosity and connect them to dedicated teachers, new friends, and a wider world. Whether studying “motors and electricity” (Ghana) or on a field trip to a local potter (Thailand), whether children get to school by camel (Mongolia) or boat (Myanmar), “going to school is a big step toward growing up and learning to be responsible,” write Ajmera and Ivanko (To Be a Kid) in the afterword. The image quality is uneven, but in the best photographs—best friend pairs in India and Kyrgyzstan, a Cote d’Ivoire child who flashes a beaming smile—children regard the camera with delight and pride. Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

2019-05-08
Across the globe, schools and the children that attend them are similar and different in so many ways.

Organized by simple statements regarding what, where, and how children study, the book offers photos featuring a wide range of children, from Indigenous children in Brazil to children of multiple races in the United States. Although the pictures and their clear, informative captions are grouped according to commonalities, they also accurately represent how class, culture, and faith influence everything from school uniforms to what it means to be a good citizen. The final pages contain longer, more detailed text that caregivers can use to supplement the facts that are already presented in the book. The book's illustrations are carefully curated to represent a wide range of regions, faiths, and skin colors, all within an age range that seems to be middle elementary. Laudably, the children pictured in the photos span economic strata as well as geography: The book shows children of different class levels studying in the global south as well as more developed countries. It is refreshing to see images of students studying in a night school in India and a UNESCO-funded school in Rwanada juxtaposed with photographs of what appear to be private school students in India and South Africa. This edition updates a 2001 volume of the same name with a preponderance of new photos, a colorful design, lightly massaged text, and an expanded trim size.

This simple, informative photo essay realistically portrays children's experiences of schooling around the world. (Informational picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews