This month, we’ve put our “regular” studies on hold, and we’re learning about Christmas around the world.  One benefit of studying Christmas around the world is that it gets my children interested in people around the world, period.

Dedie King has written some books about children in other lands, called I See the Sun in….  So far, there are three books in the series: I See the Sun in Afghanistan, I See the Sun in China, and I See the Sun in Nepal.  Because these are all eastern nations, I suspect that Christmas is not celebrated much there.  (I think these are largely Muslim/Buddhist nations.)  But the girls will enjoy learning about them, nevertheless – especially given the approachable manner in which the books are done.

Each book walks the reader through a day in the life of a (fictional) child from its designated country.  It begins with waking up and ends with going to bed.  In between, we learn what these children eat, how/where they go to school, and what their chores are like.  We learn who their families are, and get a glimpse into their religious beliefs.  We even get a little bit of a peek into the types of terminology they would use.

What makes these books really unique is that each one is also translated into the language that is native to the subject of the text.  So, for instance, the book about Afghanistan has the text written in Afghan Farsi above the English text.

The text is accompanied by collaged illustrations.  You have to look closely at most of them to see that they’re collages, though; they aren’t your “typical” collages.

At the very end of the book is a glossary, followed by additional information about the culture.

I am looking forward to reading others of these as they become available. (Russia is coming soon!)

Disclosure: I was provided with review copies of these books to facilitate my post.  As always, all opinions are entirely my own.