FIRST DAY AROUND THE WORLD

Worldwide, children share the experience of attending their first day of school.

Mirroring the school day, this ambitious book begins at dawn, with a description of African kids eating their breakfasts and donning fresh uniforms, before transitioning to a discussion of the many ways students travel to school. Then it’s off to the Middle East and Asia to explore first-day rituals before journeying to Europe for lunch. As the day winds down, South and North American students head home through bustling communities to rest and reflect. Every continent is represented (even Antarctica; in one scene, kids learn about our coldest continent), with a handful of regions highlighted per page, making for a satisfyingly thorough global tour. Though the author devotes just a few sentences to each place, the book contains enough specificity (“coffee with a pinch of salt,” greetings of “Sabah al-khair”) that children from those cultures will surely feel seen. Zoboi’s commitment to covering so much ground could make for a challenging read-aloud; the book’s length, combined with her expressive, poetic style and sophisticated language, results in a rich but dense narrative. Londoño’s bright digital cartoon illustrations make each location feel like an exuberant travelogue. Diverse in terms of skin tone and ability, the characters wear culturally specific clothing, while Zoboi laudably acknowledges that though some children long to attend school, they must instead take part in “another day of work.”

Both monumental in scope and tightly focused, with an emotionally resonant core.