Author Anastasia Suen has dubbed the first day of the workweek as Nonfiction Monday. As the parent of a child who has loved nonfiction from a very early age, this is a bandwagon I can jump on! Anastasia will do a roundup each week of all of the participating blogs, which should provide plenty of good ideas if you’ve got a nonfiction fan in your house.

Last week, Woodstone Prairie posted some pictures showcasing families from around the world and what they typically eat in a week. Great pictures, but I pointed out that since the images were from Hungry Planet: What the World Eats it might not be such a good idea to post them on her blog (photos are copyrighted). The exchange prompted me to pull out my copy of Hungry Planet, and it just seems like good timing to post about it here, even though it’s not necessarily a kids’ book.

Hungry Planet is a course in social studies, nutrition, environment, geography, and ethics all rolled up into one gorgeous book. But before you start thinking, “boring!” let me say that my kids love this book!

Peter Menzel and Faith D’Aluisio collaborated on this project to bring eating habits from around the world to our attention. The book is divided into 30 sections, each one focusing on one family. The main image shows the family surrounded by the food they eat in a week’s time. Compare the piles of soda consumed by the Casaleses of Mexico to the stacks of fresh fruits and veggies consumed by the Mendoza family of Guatemala. Or compare the meager grains that the refuge family in Chad gets by on with the abundance of more industrialized nations.

In addition to the main image, there are others showcasing the lifestyle of each featured family along with a narrative on life as related to eating, food, and in some cases, survival. A statistical breaks down the weekly food expenditure.

For a look at some of the images from the book, click over to the excerpt on the Time magazine site.