Even though many kids have tried to dig to China from their backyards, the only ones who might actually get to China are those who live in South America. Okay, no one can really dig all the way through Earth, but in Carly Allen-Fletcher's vibrant and intriguing book about global opposites, readers will learn exactly where they might end up if they started in, say Timbuktu, Mali, and dug straight through the crust, the mantle, the outer core, the inner core and back out to the other side of the planet*.
On each two-page spread, Allen-Fletcher (Goodnight, Seahorse) describes a different place in the world with an eloquent line or two that evokes the landscape and the animals that populate it. For example, "Palembang, Indonesia. Thousands of belida fish glide through cool waters by this riverside city, hoping to avoid the local fishermen." In the center of the spread is a stylized outline of the globe with dots marking the two cities. When readers flip the book upside-down they'll find the antipode (diametric opposite) of each exotic locale and the creatures that have "evolved and adapted to live in their own special place in the world." This absorbing picture book will please a range of ages and tastes. For some, the appeal will be in the beautiful colors, shapes and delightful combinations of abstract and representational artwork. Others will devour the fascinating facts about our planet. Most, of course, will love the whole antipodal package, right-side up to upside down.
[*The antipode of Timbuktu is Yasawa, Fiji.]
--Emilie Coulter, freelance writer and editor