'One day' - Around the world in 24 hours, written by Suma Din and illustrated by Christiane Engel

I recently came across a beautifully written book focusing on the lives of 15 children going about their daily lives across the world, over a period of 24 hours.  This book is great for introducing the concept of time zones in an engaging manner and is perfectly pitched at children in upper Key Stage 2.  Readers are introduced to 15 ordinary yet fascinating children.  By following what they do over a period of 24 hours, they get glimpses into their lives, families and everyday interactions, so much so that by the end of the book the reader is left wanting to know more about each character and a sense of disappointment that the book has finished prevails.   Perhaps, the author Suma Din will write a follow up book developing these characters further.  

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'One Day’ not only provides readers with the opportunity to learn about time zones but also to explore similarities and differences in the lives of children in 15 different countries and find out a little about their cultures and backgrounds.    The book also provides simple facts about each of the 15 countries in relation to the capital, population, total area, currency and official language, with the map at the beginning of the book which introduces each of the characters enabling the reader to locate which countries these children live in and their time zones.

The illustrations by Christiane Engle are beautiful, vibrant and distinctive.  They bring Suma’s characters alive before your eyes. This excellent book is thoroughly recommended to all primary schools.