Poverty and Hunger (Children In Our World Series)

This book series deserves zero stars. I had high hopes for these. As a social and cultural historian and professional social justice educator and advocate, I know there are few books that address these topics for a young readership. The two I've reviewed so far - "Poverty and Hunger" and "Racism and Intolerance" - peddle in ethnic and racial stereotypes (Latino family in sombreros, African-American men as criminal, poor as helpless and ignorant, etc.) while encouraging white children to see themselves as either the victims of discrimination and bullying or as the saviors of the poor. The emphasis on the work of "charities" dominates the books and the ending suggestions that children raise money to give to the charities as a way to help is totally inappropriate. Missing from these books are any mention of income inequality, stagnating wages, extraction of poor countries' raw resources or the controlling of their economic markets (to name a few) as causes of national or international poverty and hunger. Missing, too, is addressing the institutional forces that reinforce racism and intolerance, such as inequalities in housing, education, health care, and criminal sentencing - not to mention the 300+ years of oppression and marginalization resulting from Western colonization. Handled appropriately, all these topics are capable of being honestly addressed for a young audience. Children around the world live with these realities; understanding it in a picture book is not beyond their grasp. Instead, under the guise of promoting tolerance and understanding, these books reinforce patronizing images of the poor and marginalized as incompetent and incapable of self-determination, while applauding the generosity and goodness of the white charities who "save" them. Skip these books and have a honest conversation with your child instead.

I wanted to like this book. The text is appropriate for such a complicated topic, and the illustrations are lovely. However, the "helping" people depicted on pages 18-23 are all white, which sends a message I'm not comfortable with. If some of the helpers were people of color, I'd like this book much better.

Louise Splisbury packs a whole punch in Poverty and Hunger. The message of the book is timely, needed and helpful. It is filled with compassion, but also overwhelming sad stories. I felt this was no bedtime story as the illustrations would make it feel.I appreciate the glossary and addresses included in the book to help a parent/guardian explain to a child what the big words mean and the connections to make to help in the quest to solve hunger and poverty. I also appreciated when I had a question, the next section of the picture book answered the question.Poverty and Hunger illustrated by Hanane Kai are absolutely beautiful which makes this book a little more palatable.The message itself, to me, maybe too much for a 7-year-old. Let's just say it's not a book they would necessarily pick up for themselves. Definitely, a parent's led discussion. As I said above, it's a good discussion, a hard discussion, a needed discussion made easier by the illustrations, just not one I would read to my child before the age of 11 years of age.Overall I would give this book a 3 out of 5 in lieu of the extreme complexity of this the book for a young child.

I liked this book. It made it easy to start talking with my daughter about a topic that I know makes her sad. It ends with a list of things to do, including how to learn more about organizations working to make things better. We considered what our family could do, considered projects, etc. Very useful.