D’Aluisio, Faith (author).
Illustrated by Peter Menzel.
July 2008. 160p. Tricycle, hardcover, $22.99 (9781582462462).

The authors’ Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, published for adults, won the James Beard Foundation Award in 2005 for Book of the Year. In this new youth edition, the creators have reworked the text, added new material, and honed the book’s focus to more specifically reflect the experiences of young people. The basic concept, however, remains the same: an illustrated survey of what people across the globe eat in a single week. In preparation for this project, Menzel and D’Aluisio shared meals with 25 families in 21 countries around the globe. Each chapter serves as an intimate photo-essay of a different family and their week’s worth of groceries, listed (with prices in both local and U.S. currency) and pictured in a photograph of food and family members that opens each section. Stunning color photographs of mealtimes and daily activities illustrate the warm, informative, anecdotal narratives about each family. New to this volume are the many pages of statistics, displayed in eye-catching graphics that compare various countries’ rates of obesity, access to safe water, daily caloric intake, and other food-related issues. Like the adult edition, this is a fascinating, sobering, and instructive look at daily life around the world, and it will draw readers of a wide age range to its beautifully composed pages.

— Gillian Engberg

(Source: Booklist)

 Adapted from last year's Hungry Planet, this brilliantly executed work visits 25 families in 21 countries around the world. Each family is photographed surrounded by a week's worth of food and groceries, which Menzel and D'Aluisio use as a way of investigating not only different cultures' diets and standard of living but also the impact of globalization: why doesn't abundance bring better health, instead of increased occurrences of diabetes and similar diseases? These points are made lightly: delivered almost conversationally, the main narrative presents friendly, multigenerational portraits of each family, with meals and food preparation an avenue toward understanding their hopes and struggles. A wealth of supporting information-lush color photographs, family recipes, maps, sidebars, etc.-surrounds the text (superb design accomplishes this job harmoniously) and implies questions about global food supplies. Pictures of subsistence farmers in Ecuador cultivating potatoes from mountainous soil form sharp contrasts with those of supermarkets in a newly Westernized Poland. Fact boxes for each country tabulate revealing statistics, among them the percentage of the population living on less than $2 per day (47% in China, where the average daily caloric intake is nonetheless 2,930 per person); the percentage with diabetes; number of KFC franchises. Engrossing and certain to stimulate. All ages.

(Source: Publishers Weekly)

 Can too much information give readers intellectual indigestion? When is it better to graze through a book rather than consuming it in one sitting? Is it possible to make good-for-you information as delicious as (guilty) pleasure reading? The adapted version of Hungry Planet: What the World Eats (2005) raises all of these questions. Intended to inform middle-schoolers of the wide variety of food traditions as well as discrepancies in access to adequate nutrition, this collection of photos, essays and statistics will require thoughtful concentration. Adapted and abridged text, a larger font size, the addition of small maps and basic facts about each country and the deletion of some photos that might have been judged inappropriate or disturbing help to make the wealth of information accessible to this audience. The plentiful photos are fascinating, offering both intimate glimpses of family life and panoramic views of other lands. Whether used for research or received as a gift from socially conscious adults, this version offers children plenty to chew over-but it'll take them some time to truly digest. (Nonfiction. 11-14)

(Source: Kirkus Reviews)

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