A Country Far Away

by Nigel Gray

Side-by-side pictures reveal the essential similarities between the lives of two boys, one in a western country, one in a rural African village

Genres: Picture Books, Africa, Childrens, Geography, Cultural, Fiction

31 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Mathew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Duspasquier is, like Tan and Pullman and all those other great literary creators, someone who also states that they do not write or draw for children or with children in mind, they just simply create. Written by Gray but an equal part, if not more, of the story carried by Duspasquier, it tells (in both English and Urdu) the story of two boys with the top half showing the life of a boy in an African village and the other of a British child - problematic since Africa is a continent and Britain a country! Yet the story is a nice one showing that both children experience, within their lives, similar events and moments and despite there being great differences in culture and environment, they have more in common than we think: a powerful message to share with all readers. I particularly liked the clever emphasis on the nature of rain in both images and how it led to the same event but for very different purposes. I had no idea about this book and can see now that Jeannie Baker may have inspired by this to write Mirror

[Zara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a story that I read to a group of five to seven year olds at my school. I found that the children responded really well and were enthralled by it. I enjoyed reading it out loud and thought it to be such a lovely book that I bought it for myself. The story is about two boys, one from a small African village and the other from a suburb in America, who go through the same experiences, such as going to school, but emphasising the major differences how growing up on opposite sides of the world, experiencing major culture differences. The illustrations are brilliant at demonstrating the diversity of the boys’ lives, whilst cleverly highlighting the similarities, common amongst all growing boys. It is thought provoking and engages the children, whilst incorporating important cross curricular aspects included in the book, which helps to broaden their imagination and understanding of life in different cultures.
Whilst this has text in the book which is displayed in the middle of the book, the African boys’ life is in the top of the page and the American boys’ life is in the bottom of the page, it is more of a discussion book. I would have thought the age range for this book would be about ages three or four to about eight years, perhaps even older, depending on what you desire the children to gain from it.
There are few books, that I’ve seen, that can engage the children and encouraging questioning what their perception and understanding of the illustrations and what they represent. It is a great, cross curricular book which I highly recommend for all children and teachers alike.

[Anne Fox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only thing I found disturbing about this book is a subtle (or maybe not so subtle) bit of racism.

The book presents each situation in two panels: one which depicts life in a tribal village of yes: dark faces. The other shows the same situation in an urbanized setting of, you guessed it: light faces. The perhaps unintended message comes through as: dark faces = backward, light faces = advanced.

The author could have depicted any other culture with its differing cultural norms. Having spent 4.5 years in Japan—a decidedly advanced but very different culture from ours—would have been just as effective without suggesting racial bias.

The illustrations are nice, but the message I found not so nice.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

I completely understand why this book appeals to some people…it does seem like a wonderful way to help children notice both the similarities and differences between their own lives and those of children elsewhere. The parallel structure is engaging and easy for young readers to follow.

That said, I think it’s also important to look at how A Country Far Away represents those “other” places. The imagery and text risk presenting Africa as a single, poverty-stricken continent, which can unintentionally reinforce narrow stereotypes. Without some explanation or discussion, children might walk away with a limited view of what life in African countries, or even in “the West”, is actually like.
The book’s intentions are clearly positive, but I feel it works best when accompanied by conversation or additional stories that show the diversity and richness of real people’s lives around the world.

[Katharina · Rating 1 out of 5]

The idea of the book is nice, because it tries to show that children in different parts of the world live similar lives. But the problem is that it uses stereotypes. The African boy is shown as poor and living in a village, while the British boy looks rich and modern.
This doesn’t show real life, because not everyone in Africa lives in a village and is poor, and not everyone in Britain lives like the boy in the story. It only shows one side of each culture.
Because of this, I wouldn’t read the book with primary school children. They shouldn’t learn about other cultures through such limited and old-fashioned pictures. It’s better to choose books that show many different ways of living — both in Africa and in Britain.

[Yas Met · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not an aproppriate childrens-book to educate kids on a foreign country or language! It's stereotypical. Furthermore it talks about the continent africa as if it was all the same and every place looks the same, the people look and act the same way. It is made for the "white american/european" audience. When european/american kids, who most of the time have no knowledge about african countries or living conditions are reading this book, or are being read to these kind of books, it only engages them in sterotypical thinking because they then think, that the whole continent africa is the same as displayed in that book.

[J J · Rating 1 out of 5]

Even though this book tries to teach an overall understanding between cultures, I didn’t really like it. I think it presents a very one-sided and outdated picture of both worlds. The African boy’s life is shown as poor and simple, while the Western boy’s life appears perfect and modern — in my opinion, this creates a subtle form of discrimination on both sides. Nowadays, reality is completely different: not every “white family” lives like the one in the book, and many African countries have electricity and are much more globalized than Mr. Gray portrays.

[Elisabeth Trafoier · Rating 3 out of 5]

I feel that the book helps develop empathy and understanding that people live in different ways, but in my opinion, the differences are shown in a very simplified way and there isn’t enough explanation to fully understand everything. For me, it’s a good introduction to show children other ways of living, but it needs to be accompanied by discussion or extra information.

[Lili · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was pretty good

[Ammie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has been a favorite for a long time. Viewing the parallels is important in opening up a child's eyes. J has learned a lot about other countries from picture books like this one.

[Willow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: there are some naked bottoms pictured.

[Stacie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two kids, enjoying similar life events, in very different cultural contexts. A great story told with simple words but powerful and beautiful pictures.

[Itzel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was about how two kids life their life. It starts by beginning their day normally and what they like to do. But as the reader you see two stories going on. One boy lives in a different country than the other but are both describing what they do. You see how differently they live but it is also the same. In the end, the boys are reading a book about each other’s countries and they want to travel there one day and meet others from that place.

This book is a picture book. It contains mostly illustrations. The illustrations tell part of the story. With the illustrations you can see that the boys live in different places and live differently. The illustrations show you that one of the boys lives in Africa and the other one lives in for example the United States. You can tell easily that they are not the same place thanks to the illustrations. The illustrations are very colorful and detailed so you can notice the things there are in the different places.

It also contains simple structured sentences. The book contained at least one sentence in the middle of the two illustrations. It was in between the images so it could separate them. The text made the illustrations connect. I say this because the text said something like “My favorite thing to play is soccer” then it shows two illustrations one for the boy in Africa and the other boy in the United States. I think this is an easy read for children who are just beginning to read. The illustrations could help the children when reading so they have an idea of the story line.

[Marissa]

The children's book "A Country Far Away" is a story of a typical day in the life of two young children in a small african village and a suburban setting. The book goes through everything each child experiences and the chores they have to do. When you read this book, you see the differences in their lifestyles and their quality of life. One of the elements that really helped portray this was the illustrations.
The illustrations in this book were set up like a comic book. There was the life of the african child on the top of the page and the suburban child on the bottom of the page. Each page displayed multiple images of what was being described in the text, and the images were so vivid and strong that a child could just look at the illustrations and understand what was going on in the story. The illustrations were therefore a very important element because it helped the children see the differences in the lifestyles of those children.
Another part of the book that I liked was the message behind it. In the end of the story, it shows the children looking at a book and dreaming of going some place far away. In the picture, the children are both looking at the other child's life and hoping to go and experience their life. I liked this because it teaches children to be adventurous and also that there is a world outside of the community they are living in. It should hopefully inspire them to learn more about the world around them and countries far away to see how their life compares to others and inspire them to want to travel there as well.

[Hannah Wolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is told in two different perspectives. One of an african boy and one of a middle class caucasian boy. The top half is the african boy and the bottom half is the caucasian boy. The author shows them playing soccer and how different it is from one culture to another. The author compares things like that throughout the entire story. Things like going to school, swimming and even just hanging out with friends are all compared between the two boys. In the end the boys both wish that they could travel the world. The african boy wants to travel to where the caucasian boy is and the caucasian boy wants to travel to wear the african boy is.

I have never read anything like this story and I really enjoyed it. I loved how the author put the story into two different perspectives, it made it a lot more interesting. He also set it up in almost a comic strip format. The illustrations were in blocks so you could really see the different scenes in the story. The illustrations were very vivid and had good structure.

What I really enjoyed about this book was that the pictures told the story. Their was only about one short sentence on each page of the book. That leaves so much room for a child's imagination to make up what is happening in the story. It is also a way to keep a child interested in a story. Reading a book with huge paragraphs tends to bore a child but if you have short sentences and a lot of pictures it keeps them interested. Overall I really enjoyed this book.

[Selina · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Country Far Away is a story of different boys telling about their everyday lifestyle. The boy at the bottom looks like a typical American family and the one on the bottom looks like a small African family. As the boys tell their stories you can see how similar yet how different they are from each other.

I think this book is a good eye opener for children. I think it gets them to think about their life outside the box and realize what it is like outside their own sheltered world. I think sometimes that children don’t realize there is life outside their own and that children live differently then the way they live.

The illustrations definitely tell a lot of the story line more than the text. I think that even without the text this story would be very influential to a child. The illustrations resemble the two children’s live vividly and there are so many little details that add to the story. For example in the book on one page where both boys are playing soccer and one boy has an actual soccer ball and one has a made their ball.

I think this book also brings up a good topic of conversation for young kids. I think that they would be surprised to see the upper illustrations of what life for a child in a small African village would be like. I don’t think there would be any problem keeping a child interested in this book, to me as an adult it was very interesting.

[Julia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, it follows the stories of two young boys and their experiences. It shows each of their stories side by side through colorful and detailed illustrations.
The illustrations in this book spanned across both pages in panels. The top portion depicted the life of a boy in another country which looks similar to somewhere in Africa. The panel below is of a boy who is most likely in the United States. In this book, its truly the illustrations that make this picture book so detailed. The text is very concise but is similar to how a little boy might describe the activities he partakes in throughout the day. It is also a great way to show the differences in culture to students who may not have been taught about this topic in the past.
I absolutely loved this book. I found the style very refreshing and thought that the illustrations told a very detailed story despite the simplicity of the text. I can see myself reading this book to students in my future classroom and have no doubt that they would enjoy it.

[Peyton Shuckhart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Country Far Away is a wonderful story of two boys telling the story of their day to day lives, but they live countries away. Everyday, kids do their normal routine that they follow, but some have it better than others. Most of them do not know the differences, but when you read this story you get to take a look into two young boys lives who do the same activities in words, but in reality they are much different. Take a step into these boys lives and read along this book which has illustrations that will blow you away.

The illustrations of this book is really what sets it apart. The book wouldn’t be meaningful at all with just the simple words, but the pictures takes you on this journey through someone else's eyes. The illustrator does a fantastic job of being clear of what is happening in the photo and pointing out the differences of the lifestyles. He does this in a way that doesn’t look down upon one lifestyle or another, but rather differentiates it. It is a story that you could read over and over just for the illustrations and you’ll catch something new each time.

[Dianne J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Country Far Away, Nigel Gray, ©1988

Age of readership: Ages 3 – 8

Genre: Picture Book

Diversity: Culture Comparison

Illustrations: Comic strip style square drawings in soft watercolors

My response to the book: The story is written down the middle ground space of each page with the illustrations above the middle ground of a child in a small rural African village and the illustrations below the middle ground are of a child in an average suburban neighborhood in the United States or some other 1st World country, both representing the text in between from their mirrored perspectives.

Curricular/Programming connections: This can be used in a social studies unit for K-3 grades studying the continent of Africa.

[Elizabeth Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gray, Nigel. A Country Far Away. Illus. Philippe Dupasquier. New York: Orchard Books, 1988. Print. Fiction, manners and customs. A Country Far Away tells the same story for the lives of two boys. One boy lives in Africa with his family and the other is from America. I think the author and illustrator worked really well together on creating two point of views from the same text. I also think the illustrator’s difference in color scheme between the two scenes helps emphasize the culture differences and the hardships that families face in Africa. I think this would be a good story to read to students, even in older grades. It would be a good way to start off a social studies lesson about how life differs in other countries, especially third world ones.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the concept of this book. I also believe kids will enjoy it. My only concern, as a parent, is what would my first/second grader might take away from this book that is negative.

I would find it important to focus strongly on the similarities between the children since many of the differences leave a sense that the African child is poor and the American child is upper middle class.

Sensitive readers:probable reinforcement of stereotypes,nudity

[Rebecca Hawkinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book would be a big eye opener for children, it would help them to realize that around the world people do live in different ways, not everyone has the same life style that they have. This book is a great way to compare and contrast culture by being portrayed from two different perspectives. I like the way the pictures are set up side by side so that you can instantly see the similarities and differences.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is told from two little boys, one in Africa and one in America, as one boy. They both do the same things, but differently since they are from different parts of the world. The illustrations show the differences. Very good at showing diversity.

[Heila · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Draws parallels between two countries - one European, one African. This title is kind of hard to find, but it's great, great, great. Our lives are the same all over the world, in important ways. The illustrations are wonderful.

[Alyssa · Rating 5 out of 5]

-great comparison of two cultures
-shows similarities and differences
-inspires students to start pen pals, or become friends with a kids from somewhere else
-shows that the child is doing the same thing in a different way
-1/2 grade up to maybe fourth.

[Rachel B · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story comparing the lives of two little boys in different parts of the world. The various activities and chores they participate in throughout the everyday are depicted, showing the reader both the similarities and differences.

A great book to expose young kids to other cultures.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love how one story is told and you can see it unfold in two completely different ways - one in Africa and one in North America.

[Robin Le duc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book can be used for so many things in a classroom. I previously worked with African Refugees, and this book was a great springboard for discussion.