BLUE ROUND EARTH

An appreciation of our planet as a protective and nurturing “big house.”

“We all live together in harmony on the land,” writes Lee with rather more lyricism than strict accuracy. The author then goes on to tally our planet’s range of climates and environments, trace the water cycle, describe the atmosphere, and explain why we have seasons. Translation (uncredited) issues aren’t all that hobble this Korean import, but such lines as “On Earth, many things always happen,” and “The air traps the hot solar heat” likely read better in the original. More problematically, the illustrator represents humanity with a crudely drawn, pale-skinned child with dark hair and clownishly heavy red lips; the generic settings teem with equally generic flora and smiling fauna. Also, the schematic view of Earth’s orbit around the sun is hard to parse, as it lacks directional arrows or (aside from a confusingly stylized deciduous tree) seasonal labels. The author restates the “harmony” theme, then closes with “Thank you, Earth!”

A stilted, if worthy, celebration desperately in need of better writing and art.