A World Full of Journeys and Migrations

My class love a non fiction text and when they had read an extract, they asked if we could read more! Really useful and informative. Loved the illustrations too!

Honest confession. When I requested this ARC, I was expecting it to be dry. How wrong I was!!

Why did I still request it in spite of my reservations? Well, this isn’t a much explored topic in children’s STEM fiction. There are so many books on the more common (read, popular) subject areas of science, maths, computing, and so on. But when it comes to anthropology, the world doesn’t offer kids many options to learn more. This was my way of finding out whether a children’s book can do justice to what is perceived as a dry subject. Answer: It does.

Secondly, the title sounded really grand: “A World Full of Journeys and Migrations”. I was curious. Could there really be that much of content for a book to be written only on this topic? Would the content be repetitive? Answer: Yes, and No, respectively.

This book covers a vast variety of topics pertaining mainly to human journeys. Beginning from 70000 years ago, the book starts with the travels of the early hunter-gatherers and works its way up human history through navigational journeys of discovery such as those of Marco Polo and Christopher Columbus, forced migration for slavery such as those of the African natives from their homelands to American colonies, colonial journeys for profit and power such as those of the British and the Dutch to various other parts of the world, and many more. The book even covers modern migrations such as those looking for better job opportunities, those seeking to escape a dictatorial regime in their native country, and those trying to escape the impact of climate change on their homes. There is even a small section on anima migrations.

I loved the way each travel episode is dealt with in a step-by-step manner, making the content simple enough for a middle grader to understand. The content comes from all over the world, though America does get the greatest chunk of the coverage. (I think that’s justified too; it’s the land of the immigrants after all.)

The layout of the book will transfer very well to its intended hardcover publication. The pages are colourful. There is a main chunk of information related to the topic on that page, and there are many informative circles sprinkled around the illustrations. The titbits offered in these circles are informative and even astounding at times. There are simple maps included in some stories to better aid in comprehension.

It doesn’t just aim at passing historical information to its young readers but also seeks to do so in a fair way. This is also the first children’s book I have seen that criticises the colonial travellers for enforcing their beliefs on the indigenous people of their visited lands, and for misusing their military strength to rule over the innocents. Thanks for not airbrushing history and for presenting children with facts, not “whitewashed” stories.

Basically, I didn’t expect to love this book so much. I found it interesting and enlightening. Much recommended for youngsters and even to schools and libraries.

Amazon shows the recommended age range as 5-8 years, but I feel the book will be too tough for them to grasp on their own. So this could work for that age group only under the guidance of an adult. For independent readers aged 10+, this book will be a gem.

5 happy stars from me.

My thanks to Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books and NetGalley for the ARC of “A World Full of Journeys and Migrations”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.