My life of wanderlust began within the pages of books. Stories accompanied my maps fascinated me as a child. I spent hours pouring over book maps which made feel that I was traveling with the characters. I even wrote my own stories, always illustrating them with maps. I also sketched real life maps for Halloween trick-or- treating, the ski trail we named “homeward run,” and the hiking trails at camp. As a geography major, my favorite class was cartography where I learned how to draw many different types of maps. Our home is filled now with maps, atlases, and globes.
Map reading is a vanishing skill in this era of GPS but I still prefer to look at a map and get the entire view of a place. I carry a Thomas Guide California Road Atlas in my car and refer to it often when I’m on the road.
Once again I plan to participate in the 2018 A to Z challenge where bloggers post daily (except Sundays) on themes from a to z. This year I’ll be featuring Literary Maps in children’s books. I’ll share classics as well as outstanding atlases and books that help children gain a spatial understanding of the world. I hope you’ll join me for the journey.
And… just for fun, can you name the book where this map is found?
Do you enjoy books that contain maps?
Hello, here from the A-Z. Intriguing choice of theme. A map adds immensely to the world building in the story. All the best for a fun and successful challenge.
Nilanjana
Madly-in-Verse
Hi Nilanja,
Thanks for stopping by and all the best to you as you write your way through this alphabetical challenge.
I love this theme! Maps are so much fun to look at. Can’t wait to see your posts next month.
Hi Claire – this sounds wonderful … and I know I’ll learn – looking forward to your theme and the A-Z … cheers Hilary
Claire,
How about The Phantom Tollbooth??
I keep delightfully discovering things we have in common.
Your A to Z blogs are a highlight of my spring.
Looking forward to traveling the globe with you.
Trina, thanks for joining me on this journey!
Fun idea–books with maps.
I’m having a great time finding maps – I’m just having a few problems with some letters so I’ll need to be creative.
Glad you’re doing the challenge again this year, Claire. With another great theme. Oh, yes, books can take us anywhere, whether close to home or far, whether far from our lives or not, we travel with them.
I also like maps and only very recently started to use Maps on my iPhone. It’s very convenient but I’ve met tons of people totally lost without the App and also drivers do all kinds of sudden turns, only because they listen to the voice telling them where to go, sometimes at the last minute.
In any case, I will follow with in April. I will be writing again about French expressions and picked the ones that don’t have an American equivalent or not as vivid.
See you!
Sounds ace! I draw maps and the government pays me to do so, I shall be following with interest, a busman’s holiday so to speak.
No idea about the map in the kids book but I love Dictionopolis!
Don’t forget swallows and amazons!
Wow! Love this theme!
You are right, maps are vanishing form our daily life. But you know? I think they will always live in books. No GPS can bring us where a good story will 😉
@JazzFeathers
The Old Shelter – Theme Reveal – Weimar Germany