Common Sense Note
Parents need to know that nothing at all harmful is presented in this book. On the contrary, the message is fun, wholesome, and energetic.
Families can talk about the meaning of the words "human race" -- the illustrations will be a perfect jumping-off spot. On the second page, the city park is filled with a multitude of people of different ethnicities, sizes, shapes, and professions, all of whom are racing onto the page and off again. Who are these people? Where are they going? Do you feel that life is a race? Do you know what it means to be part of the "human race"? Also, do you agree with the boy when he decides that if we don't help each other, we will surely crash? Take a closer look at the last few pages of the book. What are all the people doing now? What could you do to help build a community in your park? Could you work in a garden? Help during a clean-up day?
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Patricia Tauzer
Another celebrity book! Yikes! But don't let that concern you here. Jamie Lee Curtis and illustrator Laura Cornell have teamed up to create a wonderfully energetic book with a solid, wholesome message for us all.
The titular question initiated by a young child hanging feet up, head down on a park bench, begins a wondering ramble that takes the reader from the frenzy of rushing, racing humans to a quieter, calmer world where people take time to paint, talk, garden, and otherwise play with one another.
The message of this collaboration is told more effectively by the illustrations than by the somewhat sing-songy poetry of the pages. The first page sets up the question very clearly and boldly: "Is there really a human race?" Seemingly a play on words, the immensity of this question reverberates throughout the rest of the book as the boy ponders various implications of the word "race."
Drawings and words combine effectively to take the reader through the pressures and complications of humans racing, all of which the boy realizes may end in a crash. Suddenly he sits up and looks eye-to-eye with his mother. Maybe, he continues, we should all slow down, do our best, and work with one another.
Through all of his wondering, he has come full circle back to the park, where the previously racing humans are working together in a peaceful, less-frenzied world.
The symmetry of this story is amazing, the illustrations remarkable, and the message refreshing.
From The Book
Do some of us win? Do some of us lose?
Is winning or losing something I choose?
Why am I racing? What am I winning?
Does all of my running keep the world spinning?
Plot Summary:
While hanging out in the park with his mom, a child wonders whether or not there really is a human race. Throughout the following pages, he continues to wonder about what kind of race it would be, how that race should be run, and what is to be gained. In the end, he concludes that racing may not be what life is all about. Perhaps there are other ways to "make the world better for the whole human race."
Related Books:
Other Books by Jamie Lee Curtis:
It's Hard to Be Five
Today I Feel Silly: And Other Moods That Make My Day
Where Do Balloons Go? An Uplifting Mystery
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