Personal opinions aside, I love a book of book lists. There could have been a few more distinguishing factors added to the list like someone mentioned: religious vs secular, favorites vs ones that are interesting etc. Overall, I think any time we can expose our kiddos to all different types of stories from all over the world they are much better off. ( )

I love books about books, and this one is great for parents who are wanting to streamline their library visits and get to the best-of-the-best for titles with a global theme for ages 4-12.

In the first 40-ish pages, we are introduced to author Jamie Martin and her global family. She shares the story of how they came to be (LOVE IT!) and offers some practical, doable ideas for how we can broaden our understanding of the world with our children. Next up leads us to the premise of the book: build your family culture around books, and travel together around the world with great books.

The book lists are organized by region and age interest level. They list title, author, illustrator when applicable and a short synopsis of the book. Sometimes, we'll have a note on whether a book contains religious elements, in case a parents wishes to avoid or have a discussion prior/after.

The indexes are helpful. We have one by author, one by country/region, and historical index, and title index. This will help you on your library hunt. (by the way, if your library allows you to reserve a bunch of titles on hold, do it! Let them do the legwork of finding your books and putting them together for you. Makes library visits with little ones easier. Get your holds and browse, or get your holds and get on outta there. Oh, and if your library doesn't have a title, find out if they do interlibrary loan.)

Sprinkled throughout the book recommendations, we hear many families answer the question: "How do you give your child the world in your home?"

Now. As I love good book lists and we read a ton around here, I will say that many of the titles I already recognized from our own library perusal or other book lists. Some Five in a Row titles are within; and others I have found already from my treasured All Through the Ages by Christine Miller. There is some overlap in titles for this book and Miller's. In Martin's book, we have a longer synopsis. One area where Miller's book has an edge, is it simply has way more titles (plus, history and geography and more sections), and it also reaches interest levels beyond the age 10-12 set; Miller's reaches high school.

That said, there are some new-to-me titles in Martin's book, and there are certainly room for both books on my bookshelf. I will use both when browsing titles when we're doing a regional study, country study, or just wanting to add some more living books to our library list. ( )