Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?: 12 Common Phrases in 12 Different Languages - Hardcover

Lezlie Evans is the author of Rain Song, Snow Dance, Can You Count Ten Toes?, and Can You Greet the Whole Wide World?

K-Gr. 3. The main character (who acts and is dressed like a child but has the head of a cat) begins a new year of school, exhorted by the text to "greet the whole wide world" (friends, teacher, new kids, staff, and parents) with appropriate phrases. As the day goes on, the friendly cat does so, using 12 languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Zulu. On the left-hand side of each double-page spread, a four-line, rhyming verse sets up a situation that calls for an English word or phrase, such as please, thank you, orno, which appears in bold type. Below the verse are three columns. The first presents the expression in one of the other languages; the second gives the phonetic pronunciation, and the third identifies the language. To the right, extending across the gutter, a large painting, created in flat colors and a naive style, clearly illustrates a familiar situation. The final spread is a world map indicating countries where each of the languages is spoken. Recommended for larger collections, this book encourages courtesy as well as multilingual expression. Carolyn Phelan
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