Isabel Minhós Martins is a Portuguese author whose work I always love having in the shop, she also runs one of my favorite publishing houses in Portugal. Have you ever thought "What are other people doing right at this moment on the other side of the world?" I think about this question everyday, because most of my family is in Australia I am always wondering that's happening upside down on the other side of the planet. 

This book is great to open and expand kids worlds to think outside of just their tiny small circle. It can be mind blowing watching them understand they are just one person, in one corner pocket of the world— but the world is so much bigger than that. The book takes us to New York, Chicago, Mexico, Portugal, Angola, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Hungry, Brazil, and South Africa, among others.

So, while you sit turning the pages of this book, things are happening everywhere. Somewhere, a wave is reaching the shore. Elsewhere, an orange falls from a tree. In yet other places, there's a traffic jam, a stuck elevator, and someone's going to sleep. Inevitably, a book is coming to an end as another is beginning. Time is always in a hurry, never, ever stopping, and yet as you focus on these lovely illustrations, which stand as true evocations of place, time begins to slow down and, for moments, it even feels as if time has stopped, and you are transported – out of the flow of time and into the wholeness and purity of a moment. A moment of bird flight; a moment of daydreaming while washing the dishes; a moment of wondering how something felt and what came next.