• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3
• Reading age: 4 to 8

Perfect for the youngest armchair travelers, this wordbook primer uses brightly colored illustrations sprinkled with quirky humor to introduce thirty-two of the world's major metropolises. The cities span the globe, from San Francisco to Stockholm to Sydney, and each gets its own two-page spread filled with the iconic buildings, local delicacies, favorite pastimes, natural wonders and famous landmarks that make it unique. Simple descriptive words label the illustrations so that children can discover the many riches of these fascinating places, such as New York's Empire State Building, Rio de Janeiro's Carnival, Athens's Parthenon and Bangkok's pad thai, to name a few. Also included are the city's country, language and population. A world map on the endpapers marks each city's location, providing context and geographical reference.

Award-winning artist Benoit Tardif uses brilliant colors, a bold style and a touch of humor in his clever artwork that's sure to draw young children in for closer study. By collecting and presenting major cities this way, his book can help build global awareness, as it visually showcases the distinct differences as well as the many similarities between them all. It offers numerous opportunities for cross-curricular applications in the classroom, including in global studies, geography and language arts. With a wealth of information presented in such an engaging format, children will also want to independently peruse this book again and again. It's likely to inspire their curiosity about other faraway places and maybe even a desire to explore them someday!

Benoit Tardif started illustrating professionally after he completed his studies in graphic design at Université du Québec — Montréal. Since then, he has offered simple, effective and colorful images. Often tinged with irony, Benoit's style is marked by his interest in silkscreen and posters. He works with both traditional and digital techniques to build images that are designed to convey a specific and conceptual message.

Benoit Tardif's profile page

• Runner-up, Book Design Award - Children's Category, Alcuin Awards

This fascinating book is bound to initiate many conversations and encourage further learning and is a great example of Canadian non-fiction for the youngest of readers.

Canadian Children's Book News

Geography buffs and armchair travelers will enjoy studying this book and poring over the fun cartoon graphics.

School Library Journal

This book shows children how much variety there is in the world, and gives them ideas of where they might like to travel to one day.

Resource Links

... the bright, playful artwork is eye-catching ...

Booklist Online