Map Mania: Discovering Where You Are & Getting to Where You Aren't - Hardcover

DiSpezio, Michael A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0806944072 ISBN 13: 9780806944074

Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc., 2002

Synopsis

This delightfully illustrated introduction to finding your way home--or anywhere you want--is a must for growing confident kids. Filled with cool activities, quizzes, and wacky facts, every page takes a unique approach to maps and teaching basic geography to children. Build a compass; use the sun, sound or stars to get your bearings; and look at a "key to the highway." You'll always get where you're going!

About this title

From the Back Cover:

You know where you're going, but do you know how to get there? Figuring it out is the fun part! Forget about that wishing upon a star stuff and look at the night sky to help you find your way. Or slice up the earth to get a sense of direction. Not the real planet, just a map of one! Then wrap it around a table tennis ball and you've got your own personal-sized globe. These are just some of the awesome ideas that will give you "map mania!"

From School Library Journal:

Grade 3-5-It's no fun being lost in a parking lot, in a building, or in the woods, and this book will teach youngsters some tricks of the trade to help them know where they're going or where they've been. In lighthearted prose, DiSpezio imparts a considerable amount of information, including an occasional historical tidbit. He covers floor plans and maps of the home or neighborhood before going on to navigation tools such as the compass and a discussion of physical, political, topographical, and space maps. The Bermuda Triangle, Flight 19, Atlantis, and other mysterious occurrences dealing with the topic of being lost bring the book to a close. Quizzes, puzzles, and activities such as orienteering and triangulating and making an astrolabe appear throughout. Unfamiliar words are explained in context. Directions and accompanying diagrams are clear and easy to follow but words seem to be missing in the lead-in to the topographic map activity. Garbot's cartoon illustrations will grab readers and help maintain interest. There is an enthusiastic, "isn't this cool stuff?" tone to the book and the overall design with pages of varying colors and borders; clear, easy-to-read font; and an open, spacious layout is appealing. Andrew Haslam's Maps (Two-Can, 1996; o.p.) is similar in scope and is aimed at the same audience. Barbara Taylor's Maps and Mapping (Kingfisher, 1993) and David Stienecker's Maps (Benchmark, 1997), while similar in content, offer less information and are not as much fun as DiSpezio's title.
Peg Glisson, Mendon Center Elementary School, Pittsford, NY
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0806944072
• ISBN 13: 9780806944074
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 80
• Illustrator: Garbot Dave