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In Where in the World?, Bob Raczka takes young readers on an artist’s tour of six continents “without leaving your chair.” Beginning in Japan (one of Hokusai’s 36 Views of Mt. Fuji) and on to Australia (Christo’s Wrapped Coast), Raczka introduces works by Diego Rivera, Gaugin, Klee, Canaletto and six others. Each gets a double page spread with several paragraphs of text explaining the art and the geographical influence on the artist: Tunesia on Klee, for example.

On the cover and in the back of the book, a map of the world wraps up the tour. One of several tapestries designed by Alighiero e Boetti and woven in the 1980’s by Afghani women using traditional rug-making techniques, the map indicates each country with a portion of its flag and “shows us that people from completely different countries and cultures… can ignore artificial borders and work together to create beautiful works of art.” Another map of the world in the book traces Raczka’s armchair route and gives real mileage between destinations.

Where in the World?, aimed for middle school kids, is packed with fascinating details about the art and how it was made. As always, Raczka presents significant works of art without pretense. Kids experience the work for themselves while enjoying the geography along the way. And for more travel (plus art) books for children, click here.

These may be the most beautiful portraits I've ever seen: joyful photographs of young cancer patients, taken by the volunteer group, Flashes of Hope. Read the article, Changing the Face of Cancer, then click on the links to the side to see the portraits. The mission of Flashes of Hope is to "to change the image of childhood cancer, to give young people battling the disease a new way of looking at themselves." I think they've succeeded.

This is my sister-in-law and my niece. My niece is ten, and just completed a year of cancer treatments. She's so beautiful, isn't she?