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Barr, Stephen

If This Were the World

40 pp. | Holiday/Porter | February, 2026 | Trade ISBN 9780823457199 $18.99
(1) K-3 Illustrated by A. G. Ford. A dozen-ish elementary-school classmates head outside for recess, only to realize that they've run out of games to play. They are stymied until Omeed holds up an orange and posits, "What if this...were THE WORLD?" The class's enthusiastic embrace of this new game results in the orange's destruction, as (perhaps inevitably) it is divided into pieces and consumed. The class then moves on to new "worlds" to play with, all of which eventually end up "eaten up, crumpled up, blasted away, or busted." Amidst the wreckage of the playground, the students stop and think, knowing that they need to find "something big," "something easy to share," and "something we won't forget about." Finally, quiet bookworm Nabiha spreads her arms, encompassing everything and everywhere: "What if THIS...were the world?" If the message is overt, it's been given an innovative, fresh presentation here: unusually engaging, accessible, and aimed directly at its audience. Ford's cartoony illustrations rock with kinetic energy, and his portrayal of the class both as a collective whole and as distinctive individuals is an estimable accomplishment and spot-on for the book's theme -- all kinds of people need to work together to protect our Earth. Readers will definitely enjoy following individual students throughout, including an active boy who finds his missing shoe and a rather diabolical girl who is clearly the class troublemaker.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2026

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