PICTURE BOOK - FLAP BOOK/BOARD BOOK: Hello World: A Celebration of Languages and Curiosities by Jonathan Litton

originally published in 2016 in Great Britain by Caterpillar Books
USA publication 2016 by 360 Degrees, Tiger Tales

20.99

18 pgs - 9 thick cardboard 10 3/8 x 12 3/4 inches with hundreds of flaps to open

Goodreads rating: 4.44 - 16 ratings

My rating:  5, it was fun, informative, and creative

Endpapers none

Illustrations: Large maps of continents

My comments:  Wonderful, creative, kid-friendly flap book.  Say hello in lots (and LOTS) of languages of the world, with pronunciation and world location on large, double-page spreads.  An Atlas and Language book combined!   A lift-the-flap book for all ages.

Goodreads:  Learn to greet people around the globe in this interactive atlas of hellos. With more than 150 languages, flaps to guide you through pronunciations, and features on hieroglyphs, sign languages, and different writing systems, a world of exploration is at your fingertips.

MOVIE - Arrival

PG-13 (1:51)

Wide release 11/11/16

Viewed date at Park Place Mall on Thursday, Nov. 17, 2016 after getting my hair cut.

RT Critic:  93  Audience:  83
Critic's Consensus:  Arrival delivers a must-see experience for fans of thinking person's sci-fi that anchors its heady themes with genuinely affecting emotion and a terrific performance from Amy Adams.

Cag:  5.5  I really loved it, superior movie, may change to a 6...

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

21 Laps Entertainment

Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forrest Whitacker

My comments:  Now that's a MOVIE!  Clever, believable science fiction where you slowly figure out what's going on, and the reality is much ... deeper ... than superficial.  I'll be thinking about this one for a long while yet.  It left me with a couple of small questions, that I'm sure I'm supposed to figure out on my own (sort of like the end of reading The Giver for the first time).

RT/ IMDb Summary:  When mysterious spacecrafts touch down across the globe, an elite team - lead by expert linguist Louise Banks - is brought together to investigate. As mankind teeters on the verge of global war, Banks and the team race against time for answers - and to find them, she will take a chance that could threaten her life, and quite possibly humanity.

Beautiful Yetta, the Yiddish Chicken - Daniel Pinkwater

Illustrated by Jill Pinkwater
Feiwel and Friends (McMillan), 2010
32 pages
$16.99
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: azure

Mr. Flegelman is taking his organic chickens to the city (which happens to be Brooklyn) to be sold. "The truck pulls up in front of Phil's Poultry World, and with a tear in his eye, Mr. Flegelman begins to unload the crates."

And now, the fun starts. When Mr. F. speaks, his words, "Good-bye, my dear chickens," appears in a talking cloud above his head. Then we see the line written in Hebrew and then the phonetic pronounciations of the Hebrew words. COOL!

Well, Yetta the chicken breaks free and takes off into the streets of Brooklyn. Freedom! Each time she speaks to herself, we can see the translations and pronounciation. Of course the pigeons she meet can only speak English...and they're mean. But when Yetta saves a bright green parrot from a cat, she is adopted by a flock of Brooklyn's wild parrots - and they speak Spanish! So everything they say is translated from Spanish, including the pronounciations!

Happy, happy ending to a very clever story. And there's an explanation of the Hebrew alphabet at the end of the book.

A is for Asia - Cynthia Chin-Lee

Illustrated by Umi Heo
Orchard Books, 1997
Rating: 3
Endpapers: Goldish paper bag color

Asia seems too diverse to include enough about it in one picture book, but Ms. Lee tries. She includes as many of the countries as she can by introducing a product, activity, animal, holiday, or activity from that country. There is a noticeable absence of some countries, however. It also gets confusing if you're looking for specific information about a particular Asian country, or if you're trying to figure out any of the different languages which are included on every page - or even where a country is located. But it is also an excellent introduction to teaching about the seven continents of the world - and zillions of lessons can be included for each letter.

I like the illustrations a lot. They cover much of the page within a single-line outline, are colorful, fun, and informative.

Asia (map) (Language: Tibetan)
Batik-Indonesia
Camels-Saudi Arabia (Language: Arabic)
Dragonboats-China
Elephants-India (Language: Hindi)
Fish (symbol) (Language: Vietnamese)
Gamelan-Malaysia & Indonesia
Holi (a holiday)-India
Id al-Noruz (Persia-no explanation) (Language: Persian)
Jade (Language: Burmese)
Kites (Language: Korean)
Lotus (Language: Hindi)
Monsoon (Language: Urdu, with no explanation of who speaks this)
New Year-China
Origami-Japan
Panda-China
Qur'an-Muslim (Language: Arabic)
Rice (Language: Chinese)
Sled-Siberia (Language: Russian)
Turkish Delight
Umbrella-China
Villages-Korea
Water Buffalo-Philippines (Language: Tagalong)
Xiang Qi (Chinese Chess)
Yurt-Mongolia
Zen (Language: Japanese)