Around the world children get to class by canoe, through tunnels, up ladders, and by donkey, water buffalo or ox cart. In Rosemary McCarney's The Way to School, a collection of striking, full-color photographs of schoolchildren from Myanmar, the Philippines, Ghana, Brazil, China and beyond, readers will see that the path to school can be "long and hard and even scary," depending on the terrain, the weather, even natural disasters.
The lively, conversational text asks young readers to consider what they would do to get to school. "What if there was a river in your way? Would you bravely wade across... paddle across... float across... or fly across?" Each river crossing, from pants-rolled-up wading to flying through the air on a zipline cable, is illustrated by a crisp, colorful photo of children and accompanying adults doing just that, and each photo is labeled, subtly, in small italics, with the country shown. "Whether your way to school is long and lonely" (solo trudging in Tanzania) or "short and friendly" (walking with friends in Haiti), "It's always worth the journey!" Buoyant and beautiful, The Way to School is a powerful illustration of the importance of education and the universal drive to learn. --Karin Snelson, children's & YA editor, Shelf Awareness