Follow Your Stuff
CBC Books | | Posted: May 25, 2020 6:35 PM | Last Updated: June 9, 2020
Kevin Sylvester & Michael Hlinka
Our cellphones, our clothes, our food: All are everyday things we consider essential, but we seldom think of what and who is involved in making them and getting them into our hands. In Follow Your Stuff, award-winning children's author Kevin Sylvester and business professor Michael Hlinka team up again, this time to tackle the dynamics of the global economy, examining the often-complex journey of ordinary goods from production right to our doorsteps.
Using familiar examples, easy-to-follow charts and graphs, and a fun, accessible tone, Hlinka and Sylvester introduce young readers to concepts such as relative value and fair wages and how to think critically about our purchasing decisions. Sylvester's lively illustrations add even more kid-appeal making this sequel to the critically acclaimed Follow Your Money the perfect introduction to socio-economics and an eye-opening essential read for young people. (From Annick Press)
From the book
The truth is, all of the things we use, consume, and buy are made by other people. Lots of them. Millions of them, in fact, from every part of the globe! People you will never meet. People who might not even know that their own good work helped you stay warm during the last bit of cold weather or helped you see better.
But wait, you say. I've made a cake... from scratch! Not really. "From scratch" means you have access to the basic ingredients, but you are just assembling them. That cake is delicious, sure, but it's not really something you made all by yourself.
Someone else grew the wheat. Someone else harvested the sugarcane, and other people turned that into the sugar you used. Same thing for the flour, the milk, the icing, the food coloring, the chocolate, the candles, the... you get the idea.
From Follow Your Stuff by Kevin Sylvester & Michael Hlinka ©2019. Published by Annick Press.