P is for Passport: A World Alphabet (Discover the World) Hardcover – Picture Book, September 22, 2003

If a book is the destination, then reading is the journey. Or, a passport and a library card have a common purpose: they take you to places known and unknown.Many teachers have themes for their school year. My theme for 2009-2010 is "The Library: Your Passport to Anywhere." This book, "P is for Passport," gave me the idea. Devin Scillian created 26 things that people of the world have in common and wrote script to identify them. Then the publishers hired illustrators from around the world to create visuals--altogether a multicultural effort to depict a multicultural world.As in most alphabet books, there is the fairly simple script, then on the opposite page details highlighting content in the script. For example, B:"A British boy in Brighton, eating a buttery bun,Another boy in Brooklyn eats a bagel in the sun.....B is for Bread all over the world, baking every day."On the opposite page the reader learns what bread is made of, that it is prehistoric, comes in all shapes, sizes, and flavors. Then the types of bread identified in the passage are defined: bagel, damper, baguette, tortillas, naan. By the way, there are "biscuits in Baton Rouge" (the capital of my home state).Other letters: C is for Currency, D is for Desert, which covers about one-fifth of our world, E is for Everest, which stands over 20 Empire Buildings high and is the tallest mountain in the world (what we all share), F is for Faith, G is for Grain.Try dumplings in Munich, ramen in Tokyo, or a platter of pasta, a breakfast of porridge, or Mexican corn, Moroccan couscous, or Kansas wheat, or in China they ask, "Have you had your rice today?"What is H? Home, of course: a horse farm in Halifax, a high-rise in Honolulu, a houseboat in Hong Kong, a Holland hotel, a hostel in Hiroshima, a hacienda in Honduras, a historic hearth in Rome.Ireland, Iceland, Greenland, Greece, Skye, and the famous P.E.I. (Prince Edward Island of Canada, famous for "Anne of Green Gables"). Yes, I is for Islands.L is for Language, P is for Passport and for People, Q is for Quest (what are we seeking? The monster in Loch Ness? To kiss the Blarney Stone? To admire the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel? To hike the Appalachian Trail?)T is for Travel: "Something happens on every journey as each new map is unfurled. That's why T stands for Travel, for travel can save the world.You see, each trip a traveler takes is a moment that you spend getting to know a whole new world. And that world becomes your friend."W is the Wonders of the World, that can "wow you or move you to tears," such as the Pyramids of Egypt, Machu Picchu, Big Ben, St. Louis Arch, Taj Mahal, Statue of Liberty, and Eiffel Tower.Z? Zone, of course, an amazing concept, considering that you can theoretically fly into the past or future, depending upon your destination.Back to destination. Scillian includes a poem at the beginning identifying his favorite book:"I know it's small. It's my favorite book.It's filled with wonder, a wild adventure.It's called a passport, and here's the clincher--....Each colorful stamp is a trip I took.There's a world inside my favorite book."Allow me, please, to add my own twist:"Any book is my favorite book. It's filled with wonder, wild adventure.There's a world inside my favorite book--and it can be anything, anything at all."A book is a destination and reading is the journey there. Visit your local library with your "passport" to anywhere!

For traveling kids, this is a fun book!

Great book

This is a beautifully illustrated alphabet book on geography. Each page has a two-page illustration, with a rhyming verse on the topic (i.e. P is for People), and a side-bar with more in-depth information.One warning: "K is for knapsack". Why use a silent "k" for the K page? If you are trying to teach your children letter sounds via this book, this page is confusing.I would recommend this for libraries and schools, but don't think it's a "Must Have" for home.

Great!

Great condition!

Buon giorno! This is not your typical ABC book. I actually learned some information while reading this book as it is not geared for our younger ABC readers. Did you know the tongue of the blue whale can be the size of an elephant? Did you know the canopy in the rainforest can be so densely packed that it can take 10 minutes for raindrops to reach the jungle floor? Is it proper to belch after a meal in Taiwan? Sure, that’s considered a compliment to the chef. I love learning this stuff, I don’t know where I will ever use it but it sure is interesting. This book is very unique as each letter of the alphabet is highlighted with a two-page spread. One page talks about the letter highlighted and its significance in the world around us and the second page gives up some worldwide advice about the word highlighted with that letter. So much information and great information at that, I was greatly impressed that it was so informative and interesting. For example: L is for language and it talks about the different languages spoken in a few countries in a handful of sentences. Then in the worldwide advice there are four paragraphs talking about language: one paragraph stating the language most widely spoken worldwide, a paragraph about the English language, and a paragraph of greetings in different languages and a paragraph about speaking your native language. Here are a few other ones: Q is for quest, Y is for year, B is for bread, M is for music, and Z is for zone, I was wondering about that one. This book would make a wonderful addition to an older child’s library as I loved it for its refreshing look at the alphabet, the information it provided and the pictures it contained. It’s definitely worth taking a look at. “buon giorno” means hello to you in Italian.

First, the letter and its topic is not listed at the start of the text on each page. You have to read it at the middle or bottom of the the text. Kids learning this material for the first time will not have a context for understanding what they are reading without having the topic specified first.Second, the material and artwork is excellent. Through, I wish more of what was discussed in the text was also in the images. There are many pages that meet that, but some that do not.Lastly, I really think the book should have been consistent with 2-page spreads for each letter because they covered so much material for each letter. I know they were trying to keep the book shorter, but this is one book that should not have been cut short.Overall, a good book and we will keep it... it just could have been better.