Hello World! Greetings in 42 Languages Around the Globe

The purpose of this picture book is to encourage children to learn how to greet one another in a variety of languages, including Dinka, Hiri Motu, Yucateco, and Bambara. Greetings appear with a bold, nearly full-page acrylic painting of a child. Stojic starts with a Hawaiian "Aloha," and ends her world travels with a Maori "Kia Ora"; the phonetic spelling appears beneath each greeting. However, there is no map or country identification, and many readers won't know where the languages are spoken or by whom. The artwork focuses on children's faces, depicting them with simple features: two dots or curved lines for eyes; two small arched lines, one for the nose, and one for the mouth. These round-headed youngsters are appealing, and the uniformity in facial features serves as a visual metaphor for their universal humanity; skin tone, hair color, and accessories provide for personal uniqueness. This deceivingly simple book encourages interest in and awareness of other languages. Children can easily memorize the words and share them with family, friends, and people in their community who may not speak English as their first language. While best suited for those who have reading ability, the volume may be read aloud to younger children, who also want to learn how to be friendly globally.--School Library Journal, December 2002
From the Americas to Australia, 42 children say hello in their own languages. Under each full-page acrylic painting of a smiling child waving and greeting the reader, there's the word for hello in the child's language, a phonetic pronunciation of the word, and the name of the language. What's missing is a map showing the country where the language is spoken: few little ones will know places where children converse in Arabana, Hiri Motu, or Tamil. Still, the portraits are big, close-up, and personal, and with an adult, kids can try out the greetings for 42 nations. An index includes all the languages.--Booklist, December 1, 2002
Another friendly international cast of children stars in Hello World! Greetings in 42 Languages Around the Globe! by Manya Stojic, aimed at younger readers. Their sumptuous full-bleed portraits appear throughout. A caption includes his or her word for "hello" (e.g. "Kia Ora!") in large letters, along with its pronunciation (KEE-ah OH-rah) and origin (Maori). Portuguese, Serbian and Arabic are among the other languages represented; however, some languages (e.g. Guajaj ra and Bambara) may be unfamiliar to readers and Stojic does not indicate the countries in which they are spoken; adults may need to consult an atlas in order to point out the locations to young readers.--Publishers Weekly, November 18, 2002
A multicultural cast of children greets readers in Stojic's (Snow, below, etc.) expressive offering. Thickly applied with broad, textured brushstrokes, Stojic's acrylic portraits welcome a youngster's participation. "Aloha!" and "Kiana!" they say. Below, bright bands anchor the page with text--each greeting appears in large, black print above its phonetic pronunciation. A side note identifies the language (Hawaiian and Inuktitut). Later, a quartet of portraits provides a linguistic comparison as all four children--Danish, Norwegian, Finnish, and Swedish--pronounce their greeting the same ("Hay"); except for the Swedish "Hej" the spellings are the same too ("Hei"). As in Rain (2000), which looked at life on the African savanna, Stojic once again explores world culture. Her opening note offers encouragement ("If you meet people who speak French, don't be shy--they will love to hear you greet them in their own language"). But some languages are elusive. It would be helpful, for example, to know where in the world people speak Guajajara, Dinka, and Hiri Motu. Still, this is a good choice for fostering global awareness and children will enjoy meeting children from around the world in Stojic's joyful paintings.--Kirkus Reviews, October 15th, 2002