Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth
Oliver Jeffers
Penguin Random House, 2017.
From the Publisher: Oliver Jeffers’ user’s guide to life on Earth. He created it specially for his son, yet with a universality that embraces all children and their parents. Be it a complex view of our planet’s terrain (bumpy, sharp, wet), a deep look at our place in space (it’s big), or a guide to all of humanity (don’t be fooled, we are all people), Oliver’s signature wit and humor combine with a value system of kindness and tolerance.
This is a great book to read to our community’s children. It treats the values we (and obviously, Oliver Jeffers) wish to hold and live and pass along. The day I read this aloud, there were many ages of kids on the carpet, including a very young infant with her parents. The older kids heard these instructions as if they were directed at this very young one, and that gave them a perspective on this story that was very sweet, but also an ownership in what was being shared. It couldn’t have worked out better. This book would make an excellent shower, birth, birthday gift for any young child and their parents and siblings!