If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States (CitizenKid) - Hardcover

Smith, David J.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1554533449 ISBN 13: 9781554533442

Publisher: Kids Can Press, 2009

Synopsis

America, with all its diversity, is not easily defined. David J. Smith's If America Were a Village takes a snapshot - past, present and future - to help define America for children. Using the same successful metaphor of the international bestseller If the World Were a Village, the book shrinks down America to a village of 100. The metaphor helps children easily understand American ethnic origins, religions, family profiles, occupations, wealth, belongings and more. Shelagh Armstrong's expansive illustrations imagine America as a classic, vibrant small town.
Who are the people living in this vast and varied nation? Where did they come from? What are they like today? How do they compare with people in other countries? The book's simple statistical analysis provides a new way of learning about where people live in America, the state of their health, the shapes and sizes of families, what they use and more - forming a concise picture of a country.

If America Were a Village is part of CitizenKid: A collection of books that inform children about the world and inspire them to be better global citizens.

About this title

About the Author:

David J. Smith is a teacher and educational consultant with over 25 years of experience in the classroom and is the creator of the award-winning curriculum "Mapping the World by Heart."

Shelagh Armstrong is a freelance commercial artist who has designed adult book covers, stamps and commemorative coins .If the World Were a Village was her first children's book. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

From School Library Journal:

Grade 2–6—As in If the World Were a Village, Smith and Armstrong help children understand large statistical numbers by collapsing the U.S. population of 300 million down to a village of 100. For example, "82 people in our village speak English as their first language, 10 speak Spanish. 1 speaks Chinese, 1 French and 1 German." Other languages that represent less than one whole person are also mentioned. Topics explored include family make-up, religions, jobs, ages, wealth, items owned, energy and water use, and health. Comparisons are sometimes made with historical data to show change and with worldwide numbers for contrast. Lively, cheerful acrylic paintings depict the diversity of our country in a somewhat idealized manner that suits the all-inclusive tone of the book. While the concept is successful in making huge numbers more comprehensible, statistics are known to be slippery, and attempts to classify people by race and ethnic and cultural groups are not always straightforward. Does the term "Hispanic" identify a distinct group? Some say yes, others no; Smith identifies the village as having 75 white members, 12 black, 4 Asian, 1 Native American, and 8 who consider themselves "members of some other race or of mixed race," noting that he's including Hispanics with whites. While readers may or may not agree with Smith's interpretations of the figures, he lists extensive bibliographic resources and provides suggestions for ways to engage children in considering their country and its place in the larger world. At the very least, the book will provoke discussion; ideally, it will inspire deeper thought and consideration of "what distinguishes America from other countries and Americans from other people."—Lucinda Snyder Whitehurst, St. Christopher's School, Richmond, VA END

About this edition

• Publisher: Kids Can Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1554533449
• ISBN 13: 9781554533442
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Armstrong Shelagh