If I were the world by Mark Sperring and Natelle Quek

In strong rhyming text Sperring asks questions about the planet we all live on. 'If I were the world', is stated on every page begging the reader to think about what the world should be like. Each time a child turns the page they will see another darker space on our planet, a vista to question and discuss. Initially bright and cheerful, the pages become littered with the plastics clogging the seas, wheezing children, smoking factory chimneys, extinction of flora and fauna, homeless animals, fish caught by the ton in trawlers, a sun which has become a killer, rising oceans and flooded lands. It is all very concerning until one page is turned and there is a call to action. People are called to take a stand and clean up the oceans, stop deforestation, plant some seeds and trees in the cities and stop pollution.

A celebration of our environment and an expose of what it has become, this book calls children to take action. And there are many things they can do which will be discussed and worked on in class or at home.

This book is a stark reminder of just who is responsible for taking care of the world, reinforced by the last pair of lines:

If I were the world
Would YOU look after ME?

The illustrator Natelle Quek, Malaysian born now living in England, reveals a connection with the environment as she contrasts the parlous state of our planet in the first dozen pages with what it could be like in the last dozen pages of the book. She shows in detail some of the problems of our planet and its ill health, similarly showing a rejuvenated planet in the past pages, a world full of colour and growth, trees and flowers, happy dancing children.  Readers will be actively voting for the latter as they wrestle with how to save the day.

The illustration of the planet with children and adults linking hands completes this book with a joyful view of the future.

More about this illustrator can be found here. 

Mark Sperring has had a number of books published with Bloomsbury including Four silly skeletons and Mince spies.

Themes: Environment, Pollution, Waste, Recycling, Future.

Fran Knight