The World in a Second

by Isabel Minhos Martins and Bernardo Carvalho

“While you turn the pages of this book, the world doesn’t stop …”... read more

“While you turn the pages of this book, the world doesn’t stop …” A picture book takes readers and listeners on a journey around the world, offering glimpses of things happening at the same moment in time. A boat tossed by a storm in the Baltic Sea, passengers stuck on an elevator in New York City, a soccer ball flying toward a window in Greece, a man resting on a bench in Tokyo, a thief entering a home (perhaps his own, it’s playfully noted) in Pescara, Italy. The location of these and other scenarios isn’t always stated or obvious, but the detailed, stylized illustrations offer many intriguing, and sometimes revealing, things to look at, while each two-page spread is numbered. A world map at the end identifies the locale of each numbered scene, along with the time in that location at the moment (e.g, 9:32 a.m. in Buenos Aires, 9:32 p.m. in Tokyo). The final scene, of a girl on a bed reading, states, “…And a book reaches the end.” (Ages 6–11)

© Cooperative Children's Book Center, Univ. of Wisconsin - Madison, 2016

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