Geography

By Pat Hutchins, in Rosie’s Walk (Aladdin, 1971), Rosie – an oblivious chicken – sets out for a walk, stalked all the way by a fox who encounters pitfall after pitfall as Rosie walks across the yard, around the pond, over the haystack, past the windmill, through the fence, and under the beehives. For ages 3-8.

In David Elliot’s Henry’s Map (Philomel Books, 2013), Henry – a very organized pig whose mantra is “A place for everything and everything in its place” – sets out to draw a map of his home farm. For ages 4-8.

In Bob Barner’s Which Way to the Revolution? (Holiday House, 1998) clever mice with map-reading skills help Paul Revere find his way on his famous midnight ride. For ages 4-8.

In Jeff Brown’s original Flat Stanley (HarperCollins, 2013), a bulletin board squashes Stanley flat, such that he can be rolled up like a rug, flown like a kite, or even stuffed in an envelope and mailed.

This last led to the popular Flat Stanley Project, in which kids make their own versions of Stanley and send him as a visitor to a school, friend, family member, author, or other person of interest. The recipient mails him back along with some journal notes, photos, and souvenirs such as postcards. Track your Stanley on the map!

By Courtney Sheinmel and Bianca Turetsky, in the Magic on the Map series (Random House, 2019) twins Finn and Molly travel the United States in a magic talking camper (really a Planet Earth Transporter). Each book features a different state and includes a map and a list of catchy state-related facts. Short chapter books for ages 5-9.

Uri Shulevitz’s How I Learned Geography (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2008) is the story of a boy (based on the author himself) who fled with his parents from Poland to Turkestan (Kazakhstan) in 1939. There his father comes home one day, not with much-needed food, but with an immense map – which soon becomes a family treasure and a way to travel imaginatively to distant lands. For ages 7-10.

By Andrew Clements, The Map Trap (Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, 2016) is the story of Alton Ziegler, who is passionate about cartography. When it turns out that he’s drawn maps of the social structures and interactions at school, however, it looks like trouble. Imagine if Harriet the Spy had drawn maps. For ages 8-12.

In Holling C. Holling’s Paddle-to-the-Sea (Sandpiper Books, 1980), originally published in 1941, a young boy carves a small canoe and paddler, and adds the message “Please put me back in water. I am Paddle-to-the-Sea.” He then launches the little craft on the Nipigon River – and the book traces its subsequent journey through the Great Lakes, the St. Lawrence River, and the Atlantic Ocean. Tiny detailed maps cover each step of the way. For ages 9-12,

In similar design by Holling are Minn of the Mississippi, which follows the travels of a turtle through the Mississippi River Valley; and Tree in the Trail, a history of the Great Plains and the Santa Fe Trail, centered around a great cottonwood tree.

Those whose kids are into pirates – and whose kids aren’t? – are probably also, willy-nilly, into maps, preferably the bloodstained kind that show where to find the chest of gold doubloons. It’s just such a map that sends young Jim Hawkins off on his grand adventure in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, which is just as exciting today as it was when first published in 1883.

The book is available in many editions, including Classic Starts and Great Illustrated Classics versions, with abbreviated texts for ages 7-9; and in a graphic novel version, often a good bet for reluctant readers, adapted by Wim Coleman and Pat Perrin from Capstone Press.

In Stuart J. Murphy’s Treasure Map (HarperCollins, 2004), one of the MathStart series, Matthew and friends have found a treasure map and are off to find buried treasure – with the help of some real-life map-reading skills involving scale, distance, and direction. For ages 6-8.

One of Gertrude Chandler Warner’s now much-extended Boxcar Children series, in The Mystery of the Pirate’s Map (Albert Whitman & Company, 1999), Benny finds a bottle on the beach containing a pirate’s treasure map. Chapter book for ages 6-10.

In Jen Bryant’s Kaleidoscope Eyes (Yearling, 2010), Lyza finds a packet of maps in her grandfather’s dusty attic with an envelope reading “For Lyza ONLY.” The maps reveal possible locations of 17^th-century pirate Captain Kidd’s buried treasure. For ages 8-12.

In Michelle Chalfoun’s The Treasure of Maria Mamoun (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016), Maria is bullied in the Bronx, so her mother takes a job on Martha’s Vineyard, as nurse to Mr. Ironwell, an elderly film director. There Maria makes friends with Paolo, the son of the housekeeper, discovers a treasure map, and sets out to solve the mystery of Captain Jean Murdefer. For ages 9-12.

By Anne Rooney, Pirates: Dead Men’s Tales (Carlton Books, 2018) is an illustrated history of real-life pirates, with five detailed maps. For ages 9 and up.

See step-by-step illustrated instructions for How to make a pirate treasure map game.

See many more resources on Pirates.

How about quilts as maps? Bettye Stroud’s The Patchwork Path (Candlewick, 2007) is the picture-book tale of a little girl and her father who escape from slavery with the help of a map made with coded symbols on a patchwork quilt.  For ages 5-8.

In Deborah Hopkinson’s Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt; Dragonfly Books, 1995), when Clara, a young slave and seamstress, learns of the Underground Railroad, she fashions a quilt that serves as a secret map for escaping slaves. For ages 5-8.

Jacqueline Woodson’s Show Way (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2005) is the quilt-based history of an African-American family, beginning with a “Show Way” – a quilt stitched with clues showing the path north to freedom. For ages 5-10.

From National Geographic, see Did Quilts Hold Codes to the Underground Railroad?

For more information and freedom-quilt-related projects, see Freedom Quilts at http://www.mathwire.com/quilts/quilts.html.

Make a U.S. Map Quilt. A family project for brave quilters.