All About U.S. — A Look at the Lives of 50 Real Kids from Across the United States

Matt Lamothe and Jenny Volvovski wrote an illustrated a new book called All About U.S. (Bookshop), which features a look into the lives of 50 kids from the US, one from each state. From the website:

All About U.S. is a non-fiction children’s book, featuring 50 real kids from each state in the United States. The goal of this book is to create an authentic portrait of the country, showcasing the diversity of its people and the vastness of its natural landscapes.

We conducted over 100 hours of interviews, received 20 hours of home tour footage and hundreds of photographs, to create the illustrations and short stories about each family.

It sounds like they worked hard at finding kids from all kinds of different backgrounds (especially with just 50 slots to fill):

- Families who live in a variety of dwellings, from houseboats and yurts to farms, Native reservations, and Air Force bases

- Children with adoptive families, stepfamilies, single-parent families, two moms or dads, and those who live with their grandparents

- Children living with health conditions such as leukemia and muscular dystrophy

- Families from a range of social, religious, and economic backgrounds

This looks like a fantastic book — you can read more about it on the website or pre-order from Amazon or Bookshop.

• All About U.S.
• books
• Jenny Volvovski
• Matt Lamothe
• USA

This Is How We Do It: One Day in the Lives of Seven Kids from Around the World

This Is How We Do It is a children’s book by Matt Lamothe that follows the daily lives of seven real kids from different countries around the world (Japan, Peru, Iran, Russia, India, Italy, and Uganda).

In Japan Kei plays Freeze Tag, while in Uganda Daphine likes to jump rope. But while the way they play may differ, the shared rhythm of their days — and this one world we all share — unites them. This genuine exchange provides a window into traditions that may be different from our own as well as a mirror reflecting our common experiences.

Watch the trailer. This is exactly the sort of book I love getting for my kids: it’s What Do People Do All Day plus What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets.

• books
• Matt Lamothe
• This Is How We Do It
• travel