David Smith

If all of the 300 million people were simply one village of 100 people, its diversity is easier to understand. That's just what the author has done to make the complex make-up of the U.S. residents (in terms of languages spoken, ages, and more). Colorful illustrations accompany the understandable text. Additional resources complete the book. If the World Were a Village: A Book About the World’s People, also by Smith, looks at the inhabitants of the world as a village to allow its diversity to become more understandable for adults and children.

If we imagine the planet as a settlement of 100 inhabitants, "22 speak a Chinese dialect, 20 earn less than a dollar a day, 17 cannot read or write, 60 are always hungry, 24 have a television in their home." The global village, envisioned on a comprehensible scale, yields surprising insights into our shared humanity.