This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World

by Matt Lamothe

Hardcover, 2017

Status

Available

Local notes

155.2 Lam

Barcode

7459

Collection

Publication

Chronicle Books (2017), Edition: Illustrated, 52 pages

Description

Follows the daily lives of seven children from around the world, including such places as Japan, India, Uganda, and Italy, and discusses how schools, meals, and play can be different or similar in different places in the world.

Language

Original language

English

Original publication date

2017-05

Physical description

52 p.; 12.35 inches

Media reviews

1 more
The similarities and differences between the seven lives are both delicate and astonishing in their details, and readers will enjoy examining the images repeatedly to note the surprises they reveal.

User reviews

LibraryThing member TracyFitz
Seven children in seven different countries detail their day from getting up in the morning to going bed at night. From what they eat, to how they go to school, play and interact with their friends and families, readers will learn that although they might not live close to these children, they have
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many things in common. The author communicated with the children and their families via email, creating a guide for everyone to follow. The illustrators are done from photographs the participants emailed to the author. This book also includes a glossary, defining the boldfaced words in the text. At the end of the book, photographs of the families profiled are given, as well as that of the author, who says the one thing everyone has in common is the night sky. For teachers and teacher-librarians, this is a great way to introduce a study on world communities in primary grades.
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LibraryThing member keristars
When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the very thought of other families having different traditions and routines than my own. I loved going to my classmates' and neighbors' houses and seeing the differences right there. I would have adored This Is How We Do It.

As an adult, I appreciate the book
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for indulging that same fascination (I've never really lost it!) and for the author's art style, which I enjoyed studying as I read. It's definitely a book I want to have available to share with my nieces and nephews as they grow up.

However, my adult experiences tell me that most (if not all) of the families in this book are fairly well-to-do, or at least according to their community. It makes sense that this is the case - the author collected photographs and stories through the internet and friends-of-friends. But I kind of wish that instead of seeing so many private or otherwise expensive schools and wealthy households, the book featured children of more ordinary means. Lamothe includes a disclaimer that the children aren't meant to represent their entire countries or cultures, but that is what will happen for many readers, and I think it's a bit of a shame.

Another disappointment is how regular all the families are. They all features two parents and may have siblings or not, but that's it, and those parents are all opposite sex. The text refers to the girl from Uganda living most of the week with her grandmother instead, and her family has a housemaid, too! but neither of them count as family in the introduction. I would have liked to see more visible representation of the extended families that I know commonly live together, or parents that are not opposite sex pairs, or aren't pairs at all.

But, though there could be strong improvements to who is represented by the children and their families in the book, it is on the whole a nice glimpse of the diversity and similarity around the world, and I am happy to keep it to look at with my siblings' kids. I really like the art style and the detail in the locations, people, and things that make up daily life for each child. I also really like that many uncommon terms for American children are underlined to show that they are defined in a glossary in the back, so if you don't know what a plantain is or what ethics in Japanese school is, you can find out.
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LibraryThing member lg503
This book talks describes different cultures. Starts with the introduction of seven children. Each one from a different country. Each two pages are pictures and a little description of their lifestyle. What they eat, how they live, how they dress, their families, how they go to school, how they
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play, and all kind of activities they do in their country. At the end they are real pictures of the same families. Also in the back of the book, there's a two pages map with the location of those countries.
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LibraryThing member HeidiSki
A look at the lives of seven children around the world in Italy, Japan, Iran, India, Peru, Uganda, and Russia. Perfect fit for our IB units at several grade levels as there is a focus on schools, food, families, traditions, customs, homes, games and clothes.
LibraryThing member jstein31
There are various reasons why I loved this book. One thing that I love about this book is the language the author uses. The author of this book utilizes a lot of repetition to emphasize an idea. For example, the author starts off sentences throughout the book with “this is how” to emphasize the
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idea of different cultures doing common daily activities in a different way. Another example is that the author emphasizes the phrase “this is what” to emphasize common things that occur in every culture in different ways. The repetition of these phrases allows the author to emphasize the pattern in people from around the world doing common daily activities.

Another thing that I love about this book is the illustrations. In this book, the illustrations are very detailed, providing the reader with information that is additional to the actual text. For example, in the beginning when the illustrations show each of the kids around the world, the illustrations show detail in the person’s hair, clothes, and other extra things. This illustration provided more information on the children’s different outfits around the world. In addition, the author provides the readers with a map at the end, identifying where the children were around the world. This illustration further emphasizes the distance geographically between all of the children, providing the readers with additional information. The main idea of this story is that no matter where we come from, or where we live, we are all the same and we should embrace and celebrate all cultures and type of people.
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Lexile

L

Pages

52

Rating

½ (56 ratings; 4.5)
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