Boy & the World

Gr 4 Up—This award-winning animated Brazilian film begins with mesmerizing kaleidoscopic images. Brilliant colors, charming animation, and creative music make this a delight for many age levels. A simply outlined stick-figure boy lives on his family farm, and lush plant life, exotic colors, and fantasstic clouds abound. The boy's father departs for the city on a simply drawn train, so the youth leaves home to search for his father, and he meets a puppy, makes friends with a man on a bicycle, and sees what life is like for farm laborers. The score is a captivating mix of bouncy percussion, guitar, cello, flute, giggles, crickets, and many other sounds. It contributes greatly to the dialogue-free film. As the boy travels, he encounters festivals, big city life, and some slighter darker imagery. There are tanks that shoot at a colorful phoenixlike bird and images of dehumanizing factory work, polluted waters, and children picking through a towering trash heap. Nothing is overly frightening, and these moments could foster discussion of ecological pollution. Reassuringly, the film ends with the boy sleeping in the laps of his parents.