Book Review - Map My Continent

Map My Continent

By: Jennifer Boothroyd
Publisher: Lerner Publishing Group
Publication Date: August 2013
ISBN: 978-1467715294
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: November 2013

Four children are standing around looking at a globe. They are pointing to where they live in North America and know that “it is a continent.” One way to learn about it is to create a map. With this map you can learn the “location of different places.” One way to show directions is to “put a compass rose” on the map. The compass rose will “show the four directions,” north, south, east, and west. When planning a map, it’s necessary to decide what to put on it.

There are several different things to consider including countries, mountains, rivers, lakes, and deserts. When you plan a map, you should get together “a list of places” for it. If you check out an atlas, you’ll be able to select several places to put on the map. If you look at a map of Florida, it has “symbols.” These symbols “stand for places.” There’s a lot of work that goes into making a map. What kind of map would you be making? In this book you’ll learn how to draw one and put on special things like symbols and will learn how to add a key.

This is an excellent book to teach young students map skills and how to put together a map. This beginning nonfiction book, geared toward emergent and beginning readers, has one or two lines of text on each page. More difficult words, defined in the glossary, such as “continent,” are highlighted in bold print. There are photographs, line drawings (for the maps), and a planning chart. After the short discussion of what goes on a map, the story starts to detail the creation of one. There is one page that gives numbered, step-by-step instructions. In the back of the book is an index, a glossary, and a page of “Fun Facts.”

Quill says: This is an excellent beginning nonfiction book to help teach beginning map skills in the homeschool or classroom setting!