All the Children
of the World

By Karen Mezek Leimert

Word Publishing, $12.99

ISBN 0849913098

Words of World's Kids
Passport to Understanding

Review by Jay Graham

The Summer of '96 was a summer to review world geography. With the Olympics in the U.S. we have been reminded of the amazing variety in language and culture. Maybe you got your atlas or encyclopedia from the shelf and looked up some of those countries when athletes were announced. It was a wonderful time to realize just what similar goals people can have in spite of many differences.

Karen Mezek Leimert has drawn from her travels to more than 30 countries in Europe and Africa to create a beautiful book for children to help them appreciate children from other cultures. In the pages of All the Children of the World, she introduces young readers to different ways of life in Samoa, Portugal, India, Kenya, Australia, Mexico, China, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Canada, and Iowa.

Two pages are devoted to each country with most of the space given to a soft but bright illustration of a child in a typical scene from that country. There is also a brief, well-written description of the people or racial group living there. Leimert helps us appreciate these differences with the warm tone of both her art and text. For instance, we learn that Samoan children bring flowers to decorate their school each day; that the Aboriginals believe the land cannot be bought or sold, it is already perfect in every way; that the Chinese consider calligraphy to be the highest of all art forms; that the Bedoins give thanks for all things good and bad.

Each picture is framed with a border that suggests the culture's art style. A map of the world with each of the cultures treated is inside the book covers to help young readers locate the different areas presented.

This big book has a hardcover binding and a printed dust jacket. It is very suitable for educational use, either at church or school. Leimert spends much of her time speaking to educators and parents in a creative thinking and writing workshop she has developed, Word Power for Kids. She believes the most fundatmental building blocks of communication are words and that until children learn to appreciate and respect the language other people use, they will not respect one another.

Running through the book in large type under each picture are the words to "Jesus Loves the Little Children." Readers, young and old, will have a new appreciation of just how broad and wide His love is after reading All the Children of the World.

Jay Graham is a youth leader in Greensboro, NC.