From Here to There: A First Book of Maps

by Vivian French, Ya-Ling Huang (Illustrator)

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536225112
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	418,943
Product dimensions:	10.06(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.32(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Vivian French has written more than 250 books for young readers, including Growing Frogs and T. Rex, both illustrated by Alison Bartlett, as well as Hello, Horse, illustrated by Catherine Rayner. She lives in Scotland.

Ya-Ling Huang has an MA in illustration from the Cambridge School of Art, in England. From Here to There is her first book of nonfiction. She lives in Taiwan.

Editorial Reviews

04/17/2023

At the start of this cartographic picture book by French (the Knight in Training series), young Zane, portrayed with brown skin, sends his pale-skinned friend Anna an invitation to visit him, along with a hand-drawn map from her home to his. “Clever Zane,” says Anna’s father; “But he’s put his house in the middle,” Anna objects, “and our house on the very edge. That’s not right.” As Anna draws her own version, running into issues with orientation and scale, her father shows her variations via a printed map (“Imagine you’re a bird.... This is how you’d see things when you looked down”) and a family tree. Notes throughout elucidate map-related concepts (“The size of things on a map, compared to real life, is called the map’s scale”) as the story moves toward its end, in which Anna confidently leads her father to Zane’s home. Huang (And I Think About You) paints the figures in a loose, naturalistic style, and shows the maps close-up, clearly distinguishing between various iterations. It’s a subtle look at the documents’ inherent subjectivity that may inspire readers to pursue projects of their own. Ages 3–7. (May)

Publishers Weekly

Delightful . . Engagingly naïve but legible illustrations of the children’s efforts meld beautifully with Huang’s simple but expert watercolors. . . Throughout, the warm connection between Dad and daughter comes through clearly. This winsomely illustrated exploration of maps is the perfect entry to understanding—and embracing—cartography.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Enthralling. . . . Playfully illustrated by Ya-Ling Huang in vibrant pastels, watercolors, gouache, and colored pencils, this delightful story featuring diverse characters is just right to use as an introduction to maps and map concepts.
—School Library Connection (starred review)

Along with the simple story, most of the book’s double-page spreads include a few sentences of map-related information, such as the value of small-scale maps to show large areas, and the space-saving use of symbols instead of words. The mixedmedia illustrations are cheerful, and those representing Anna’s maps and drawings have a childlike look. For children who enjoy a bit of narrative context along with facts, it offers a visually appealing approach to the topic.
—Booklist

From the Publisher

★ 2023-01-12
Despite computer-dictated directions everywhere, there’s still a place for physical maps.

This delightful work starts by depicting the small house where light-skinned Anna lives and the six-story apartment building where brown-skinned Zane waves from his balcony. Along with an invitation, Zane has sent Anna a map, irritating the girl because her house is relegated to the edge. Light-skinned Dad, down on the floor with Anna, urges her to make her own map, which she does. Hers is very large—but still too small to include Grandma’s house, prompting Dad to introduce the concepts of bird’s-eye perspective and scale. Anna still prefers her map. She then makes quite a different map for her cat Whiskers’ favorite places, and Dad branches out to make another kind of map: a family tree. Finally, Zane’s map guides Anna as she and Dad walk to Zane’s house. The two final pages offer suggestions for maps readers might want to draw. Engagingly naïve but legible illustrations of the children’s efforts meld beautifully with Huang’s simple but expert watercolors. Readers will enjoy tracking the appearances of adored, snub-nosed Whiskers. Throughout, the warm connection between Dad and daughter comes through clearly. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

This winsomely illustrated exploration of maps is the perfect entry to understanding—and embracing—cartography. (index) (Informational picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews