StoryWorlds: A Moment In Time

Gr 2–5—Starting with an illustration of one moment in time—six a.m. on Baker Island in the Pacific Ocean—this book illustrates what is happening at that exact moment in many different places around the world. So, for instance, when it is six a.m. on Baker Island and the bristle-thighed curlews are soaring in the light of dawn, it is two p.m. in the Amazon rain forest of Brazil where a jaguar is napping in a tree, and it is five p.m. in Casey Station, Antarctica, where the southern lights are shining. The book is divided into three parts. A brief opening in the first part shows a map of the world divided into time zones, with all the places mentioned in the book clearly labeled. An introductory paragraph invites readers to explore the pictures that follow to see what is happening around the world at the same instant. Parts one and two contain these illustrations, labeled according to time and location. The last section continues these images but also features thumbnail reproductions of all the illustrations with accompanying captions that provide a bit more information. The book can either be read continuously or folded out (accordion style) to enable children to compare and contrast.