Frattempo new publishing with DK Children and EL Education
Language Around the World: Ways we communicate our thoughts and feelings
‘You have 48pp,’ they said. ‘What do want to say about language around the world and the ways we communicate our thoughts and feelings? Oh, by the way, it’s for 7-9 year olds and it needs to work for the US too,’ they said. ‘It needs to work for both trade and education,’ they said. And so began a partnership with the expert DK team and the US consultant publishing company, EL Education.
As ever in children’s book publishing, the challenge is to present complicated content in engaging ways – fun ways! I looked at the blank page plan and started ticking…
This book introduces young readers to some of the most interesting aspects of languages, how they evolve and change over time.
Humans’ use of language is one of our distinguishing features. Language allows us to communicate what we think, what we want, what we feel and what we have learnt. Some 100,000 years ago, humans began speaking. Since then, we have developed nearly 7000 languages. Languages are living things; they evolve and change over time. They even travel!
People carry their language with them and spread it. Large language families even have their own family trees, such as Spanish, French, English. Different languages can be mixed and combined to create new languages with similar words, pronunciation and grammar rules. Languages can even become extinct if they are not shared and learnt by each new generation. Spoken languages are not the only way we communicate. Sign language, braille, symbols, music, art, computer codes – humans have invented numerous ways of communicating. Sharing feelings, thoughts and ideas through the power of language is an essential part of being human.
These are challenging concepts for young learners to explore, but the text is well supported by the talented Katy Halford’s quirky characters and settings.
Take a look and see what you think. It would make a great gift or an addition to a school or class library.