'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Thursday 24 June 2010

Review: The World That We Want





Title: The World That We Want

Author: Kim Michelle Toft

Illustrator: Kim Michelle Toft

Publisher: University of Queensland Press, $17.95 RRP

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 9780702234828

For ages: 4+

Type: Picture Book

About: With so much talk about our environment and the ways in which we need to care for it, this story released in 2004 has never been more relevant. What is more important than providing our children with information about how the air, the forests and water all interact and keep us alive?

‘This is the air that circles the world that we want’ – so begins this beautiful book about our environment. Building slowly with each habitat, from the forest to the river, the mangrove, beach, tide pool, reef, atoll and, finally, the ocean, the text finishes with an overview of how each habitat works with the next.

For example, ‘this is the ocean that shapes the atoll that grows from the reef that feeds the tide pool that…’ and so on, until we come back once again to ‘the air that circles the world that we want’.

The book concludes with a list of all the animals featured throughout the book, listed by the habitats in which they live and providing kids with some information about each.

Children will learn how each part of our environment is special, and how important it is to respect and understand each one, in order to create the air we all breathe.

The first thing you will notice with this book is the beautiful illustration on the cover, the vivid colours grabbing children’s attention. It only gets better as you turn each page: bright colours, dozens of amazing animals, facts about the environment and a real Australian theme all abound this unique book.

The World That We Want was awarded the 2005 Environment Award for Children’s Literature by The Wilderness Society, showing the importance of the messages of this book.

This book is available online

Author website