Children's Everywhere facts for kids

The Children's Everywhere (also known as Children of the World) is a cool series of photo books from Sweden. It shows what life was like for kids around the world in the 1950s and 1960s. Famous photographer Anna Riwkin-Brick took all the amazing pictures. Many well-known writers, like Astrid Lindgren, helped tell the stories.

What are these books about?

This book series takes you on a journey to meet children from different parts of the world. You'll visit places like Europe, Asia, Africa, and even Hawaii in the USA! Each book uses lots of pictures and a short story to show you what a day in their life is like. It's a great way to get a peek into how kids lived in other countries back then.

The Story Behind the Books

The "Children's Everywhere" series was first published in Swedish by Rabén & Sjögren. The very first book, Elle Kari, came out in 1951. For this book, Anna Riwkin-Brick took photos of a girl named Elle-Kari and her surroundings. Then, Elly Jannes wrote the story to go with the pictures.

These books became very popular! They were translated into 18 other languages, including English, German, and Hebrew. The first printings in Germany and the United Kingdom alone had 25,000 copies. Overall, more than 900,000 copies of the 15 books were sold. The stories in the books are based on real events and real children.

Astrid Lindgren's Role

You might know Astrid Lindgren from books like Pippi Longstocking. She wrote most of the books in this series, nine volumes in total! At first, she wasn't sure about writing for a photo book series.

But then, Anna Riwkin-Brick came back from a trip to Japan with new pictures. The publisher wanted to make a book from them but couldn't find a writer. So, they asked Astrid Lindgren. She finally said yes! For many projects, Lindgren either traveled with Riwkin-Brick or followed her later. Sometimes, she didn't even visit the places or meet the children herself.

Lindgren and Riwkin-Brick would choose the photos together. Then, Lindgren would write the story. One time, for their last book together, Matti Lives in Finland, the story was written before the pictures were even taken! After finishing the series, Lindgren said she loved working with Riwkin-Brick. However, she wasn't always happy with her own writing in the books, especially Marko Lives in Yugoslavia.

Films Inspired by the Books

The book series was a huge hit in Israel, partly thanks to the poet Leah Goldberg who translated them. It was so popular that in 2014, an Israeli director named Dvorit Shargal made a film called Where is Elle Kari and what happened to Noriko-san?. This film explored what happened to some of the children from the books, like Elle-Kari, Dirk, Noriko-san, and Eva. It even showed Noriko and Eva meeting again in Tokyo!

Because of this film, seven of the stories were re-released in Israel. These included Elle Kari, Noriko-San : girl of Japan, Sia lives on Kilimanjaro, Lilibet circus child, Dirk lives in Holland, Noy lives in Thailand, and Gennet Lives in Ethiopia.

Later, in 2016, a new film came out: Africa! Sia lives on Kilimanjaro. In this movie, Dvorit Shargal traveled to Africa to find Sia from the book Sia Lives on Kilimanjaro.

Another film followed in 2017, called Where is Lilibet the Circus child and what happened in Honolulu?. This time, the director tried to find out what happened to Lilibet from Lilibet, circus child and Mokihana from Mokihana Lives in Hawaii.

Books in the Series

Awards for the Books

Some of the books in the "Children's Everywhere" series won awards or were nominated for them!

Awards Won

New York Herald Tribunes Spring Festival Award

• 1963: Sia lives on Kilimanjaro (Sia bor på Kilimandjaro) won the Children's Spring Book award.

Nominations

Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis (German Youth Literature Prize)

• 1960: Sia lives on Kilimanjaro (Sia bor på Kilimandjaro) was nominated in the picture book category.
• 1966: Randi lives in Norway (Randi bor i Norge) was also nominated as a picture book.