When Zane (brown-skinned) mails a letter to his friend Anna (white), inviting her to his house, he includes a hand-drawn map showing his apartment building, Anna’s house, and a few other important neighborhood places. Anna wishes she had a map with her house in the middle, not Zane’s, so her dad suggests she draw one of her own. She does, but she can’t fit Grandma’s house; it’s too far away. Her dad shows her another kind of map that takes a bird’s eye view, using shapes and symbols instead of detailed drawings to mark certain types of buildings and landmarks. Unimpressed, Anna decides instead to draw a map of their house for her cat, Whiskers (e.g., Anna’s bed, kitchen table, Dad’s pile of papers). Then dad shows her yet another kind of map—a family tree (missing Whiskers, whom

Anna adds). Brief tidbits of map-related information, such as scale, compass, symbols, and perspective, are sprinkled throughout a cheerfully informative picture book with pleasing mixed-media illustrations. Readers are encouraged to make a map of their own in end matter that provides ideas, encouragement, and helpful suggestions for doing so. (Ages 5–8)

From routes to scale, a young child and her dad explore the world of maps in a charming story encouraging readers to chart their own neighborhoods.

One day, Anna’s friend Zane sends her an invitation to come over to play, and inside the envelope is a map. But Anna is convinced the map can’t be right—why has Zane put his house in the middle and hers on the edge? So Anna decides to draw a map of her own, and Dad joins in as well. With an inviting narrative, child-friendly illustrations, and running commentary about various aspects of maps, aspiring cartographers are introduced to everything from symbols to point of view, road maps to family trees—and even a special “cat map” of Anna’s pet’s favorite spots. A final spread spurs readers to try their own hand at mapmaking.