I think every child (and adult for that matter) should read this book.  First of all, the illustrations are fabulous.  Most importantly, the statistics it shares does a really great job of capturing a snap-shot of our planet, giving readers a real perspective as to where they fit in the world and how many other people out there share things in common and have very different experiences than our own.  Using the concept of shrinking the world population down to a village of 100 people, while keeping all ratios/percentages in tact, this book looks at a variety of statistics for the human race.  Each two page spread is dedicated to a different topic of the human experience (e.g. ages, languages, education, etc.), and using the village concept, it shares what percentage of the people on the planet fit different categories within that topic.  For example, the religion page tells us that if the world were a village of 100 people, 33 would be Christians, 21 Muslims, 13 Hindus, etc.  Throughout the book, historical perspectives are offered as well, telling how the make-up of the global village has changed over time.  Told in very simple language, it brings some of the great complexities of our world into comprehensible perspective.  A fascinating and valuable book for any library.