This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from around the World

By Matt Lamothe

Follow the real lives of seven kids from Italy, Japan, Iran, India, Peru, Uganda, and Russia for a single day! In Japan Kei plays Freeze Tag, while in Uganda Daphine likes to jump rope. But while the way they play may differ, the shared rhythm of their days—and this one world we all share—unites them. This genuine exchange provides a window into traditions that may be different from our own as well as a mirror reflecting our common experiences. Inspired by his own travels, Matt Lamothe transports readers across the globe and back with this luminous and thoughtful picture book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Chronicle Books Digital
• Release date: May 2, 2017
• ISBN: 9781452150505

Matt Lamothe

Matt Lamothe is one third of the award-winning design company ALSO as well as the coauthor of The Exquisite Book, The Where, the Why and the How, and The Who, the What, and the When. He lives in Chicago.

Book preview

Copyright © 2017 by Matt Lamothe.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-4521-5018-5 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4521-5050-5 (epub 2)

ISBN 978-1-4521-5339-1 (mobi)

ISBN 978-1-4521-5340-7 (epub 3)

ISBN 978-1-4521-5341-4 (epib)

Design by Jenny Volvovski.

Art direction by Kristine Brogno.

Typeset in New Century Schoolbook and Brandon Grotesque.

The illustrations in this book were rendered digitally.

Chronicle Books LLC

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San Francisco, California 94107

Chronicle Books—we see things differently. Become part of our community at www.chroniclekids.com.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book wouldn’t have been possible without the help of so many people who contributed their time and effort to the endeavor. I’d first like to thank all the participating families for sharing their lives with me, and trusting me to turn them into illustrated characters.

I’d also like to thank all the friends, family, and friends of friends who helped us reach across thousands of miles to find these families. So a huge thank you,

Reviews for This Is How We Do It

[Richa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love it cause it has kids from all over the world especially because it has my home country,india??Ariana Tanna,aged 6

[jstein31 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

There are various reasons why I loved this book. One thing that I love about this book is the language the author uses. The author of this book utilizes a lot of repetition to emphasize an idea. For example, the author starts off sentences throughout the book with “this is how” to emphasize the idea of different cultures doing common daily activities in a different way. Another example is that the author emphasizes the phrase “this is what” to emphasize common things that occur in every culture in different ways. The repetition of these phrases allows the author to emphasize the pattern in people from around the world doing common daily activities.

Another thing that I love about this book is the illustrations. In this book, the illustrations are very detailed, providing the reader with information that is additional to the actual text. For example, in the beginning when the illustrations show each of the kids around the world, the illustrations show detail in the person’s hair, clothes, and other extra things. This illustration provided more information on the children’s different outfits around the world. In addition, the author provides the readers with a map at the end, identifying where the children were around the world. This illustration further emphasizes the distance geographically between all of the children, providing the readers with additional information. The main idea of this story is that no matter where we come from, or where we live, we are all the same and we should embrace and celebrate all cultures and type of people.

[lg503-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book talks describes different cultures. Starts with the introduction of seven children. Each one from a different country. Each two pages are pictures and a little description of their lifestyle. What they eat, how they live, how they dress, their families, how they go to school, how they play, and all kind of activities they do in their country. At the end they are real pictures of the same families. Also in the back of the book, there's a two pages map with the location of those countries.

[keristars_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the very thought of other families having different traditions and routines than my own. I loved going to my classmates' and neighbors' houses and seeing the differences right there. I would have adored This Is How We Do It.

As an adult, I appreciate the book for indulging that same fascination (I've never really lost it!) and for the author's art style, which I enjoyed studying as I read. It's definitely a book I want to have available to share with my nieces and nephews as they grow up.

However, my adult experiences tell me that most (if not all) of the families in this book are fairly well-to-do, or at least according to their community. It makes sense that this is the case - the author collected photographs and stories through the internet and friends-of-friends. But I kind of wish that instead of seeing so many private or otherwise expensive schools and wealthy households, the book featured children of more ordinary means. Lamothe includes a disclaimer that the children aren't meant to represent their entire countries or cultures, but that is what will happen for many readers, and I think it's a bit of a shame.

Another disappointment is how regular all the families are. They all features two parents and may have siblings or not, but that's it, and those parents are all opposite sex. The text refers to the girl from Uganda living most of the week with her grandmother instead, and her family has a housemaid, too! but neither of them count as family in the introduction. I would have liked to see more visible representation of the extended families that I know commonly live together, or parents that are not opposite sex pairs, or aren't pairs at all.

But, though there could be strong improvements to who is represented by the children and their families in the book, it is on the whole a nice glimpse of the diversity and similarity around the world, and I am happy to keep it to look at with my siblings' kids. I really like the art style and the detail in the locations, people, and things that make up daily life for each child. I also really like that many uncommon terms for American children are underlined to show that they are defined in a glossary in the back, so if you don't know what a plantain is or what ethics in Japanese school is, you can find out.

[tracyfitz-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Seven children in seven different countries detail their day from getting up in the morning to going bed at night. From what they eat, to how they go to school, play and interact with their friends and families, readers will learn that although they might not live close to these children, they have many things in common. The author communicated with the children and their families via email, creating a guide for everyone to follow. The illustrators are done from photographs the participants emailed to the author. This book also includes a glossary, defining the boldfaced words in the text. At the end of the book, photographs of the families profiled are given, as well as that of the author, who says the one thing everyone has in common is the night sky. For teachers and teacher-librarians, this is a great way to introduce a study on world communities in primary grades.