Five years ago, when we just started our curated online children’s bookshop, we met Fran Ong, the editor of Tahanan Books. That quick visit turned into a gabfest about children’s books!

At one point, she showed us an intriguing picture book called “First Around the Globe.” It was based on a 1995 article by Carlos Quirino, National Artist for Historical Literature, about Magellan’s slave Enrique. The historian argued that Enrique could have been a Fiipino, specifically a Cebuano, because he was able to act as a translator for Magellan when they got to Cebu.

It was out-of-print then, unfortunately. We begged and begged Fran to please reprint it. It was a perfect book to “row” in the style of “Five in a Row”. Oh, we even toyed with the idea of reprinting it ourselves! I also actually asked Fran if I could borrow it haha!

A free learning guide

And now, our wish has been granted. Tahanan Books has finally republished the book. We’re over the moon to finally have it in our hands!

From the moment we read it years ago, we knew we wanted to make a learning guide that would enhance a child’s experience of it. It really is hard to find high quality picture books about our country’s history. Finding one is always exciting.

And thanks to Fran who provided us with a preview copy, we were able to write a guide similar to our other free unit studies of Philippine picture books  just in time for the book’s launch. 

You can go deeper into our country’s history using this guide, as well as talk about elements of literature, language, and many more! Try reading the book every day, and focus on one topic at a time.

Click here to download our free learning guide for “First Around The Globe” and buy the book here.