For a while now, I’ve heard many recommendations in the homeschooling world for a DK book called Children Just Like Me: A Unique Celebration of Children Around the World. It is often used as a jumping off book to study different countries and cultures around the world. We finally got the book from the library to preview it and decided it needed to be part of our home library long term.
This book is by Barnabas and Anabel Kindersley and is published by Dorling Kindersley. Each two page spread in Children Just Like me features a profile of a child. With each child, no matter where they live, we see a full page picture of them with a description of some of their clothes. We see a picture of their house, their school, some of their school books. We also see a picture of his family, a point of interest from their country and how he would write his name.
In many ways, the book is typical DK children’s book fashion. Large colorful photographs, smaller captions. Overall they are busy pages. This isn’t a story book by any stretch. More of a book to page through with your kids and look at the pictures, talk about the captions. Older children can certainly read the parts on their own and will enjoy it.
Some of the countries included are: India, Tanzania, Jordan, Thailand, Poland, Hungary, France, US, Australia, Argentina, Bolivia. Each of the habitable continents are represented. The book is divided by continent with a page introduction for each one. I love that throughout the book, children of all socio-economic classes are represented. Even if a child lives in a paper hut, it is presented the same as a child living in a fancy home.
We plan to use this book to direct our country studies throughout the year. I will supplement each country with other non-fiction books from the library and we will hopefully make a family meal that will represent the country or region we are studying. But, if you aren’t homeschooling, I think this book makes a great addition to your home library. It’s a great starting point for curiosity. Children will love to hear about how kids their age live all around the world. In addition there are other books to supplement, one about stories, celebrations, and even a sticker book to complement Children Just Like Me.