David J. Smith (1)

I love this concept! As someone who struggles with concepts of scale myself, I appreciate the attempt to make large ideas and numbers more understandable and relatable. However, I think it could have been executed better.

For me, the "Events of the Last 3000 Years" spread was actually more confusing than a standard timeline. The spread of "The Continents" is also confusing, mostly because South America is a smaller percentage (3%) than North America (4.1%), but the South American portion of the page actually looks large since it's a skinnier but longer rectangle. Similarly, the "Money" page seemed a bit misrepresentative to me: 1 man stands on top of a single stack of 40 coins, to depict 1% of the population having 40% of the money, while 9 people stand on top of 45 coins split into two stacks, to depict 9% of the population having 45% of the money. Technically, the 9 people are on top of more coins than the 1 man, but since the coins are split into two shorter stacks than the one single stack of the 1%-er, it appears at first glance to be fewer coins.

Overall, I think it's a good effort to introduce concepts of scale to kids, and I don't know of many other books that do so. But there's definitely some room for improvement.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.… (more)

Author David J. Smith and illustrator Shelagh Armstrong, who previously collaborated on If the World Were a Village: A Book about the World's People, join forces again in this similar examination of the United States of America. Imagining the population of the USA (around 306 million at the time of publication) as a village of one hundred people, the author explores everything from demographics to wealth distribution, family structure to health situation. This approach gives young readers an idea of the larger picture, when it comes to the population of the United States, simplifying what would otherwise be a very complicated topic...

I enjoyed Smith and Armstrong's first book some years ago, and had always meant to pick up this companion volume, but somehow never managed to get around to it. Having recently been reading other titles in the Citizen Kid collection, I finally managed to track it down, and I'm glad I did. Although probably already a little dated - it was published in 2009 - If America Were a Village: A Book about the People of the United States is still a very valuable book, breaking down statistics in easily understood ways for children. As the author notes in his afterword, 100 is an easily understood number, and will help children to understand the topic. Numbers in the millions begin to feel abstract and unreal, I think, so Smith's approach is definitely helpful, as are the strategies he suggests, for discussing these topics with children. Although I wouldn't say it was a personal favorite, the artwork here, done in acrylic paint, is nevertheless colorful and engaging. All in all, a very worthwhile book, one I would recommend to young readers with an interest in geography and/or statistics. This could be a very useful addition to an upper primary or middle-grade social studies unit.… (more)