Monday, 21 November 2011

Five Children's Books with Maps

I spent a lot of time drawing maps, floorplans of houses and designing the layouts of new libraries when I was younger (I'm not fibbing, I spent hours and hours over a layout for my ideal library and sent it in to the one I used to go to. They never wrote back. I'm beginning to suspect my Mum never sent the letter). I'm not going to subject you to my top five favourite house layouts (yet) but how about some maps?

Here you are then.

Lord of the Rings: obviously. Although you can argue over whether this is a children's book, I read the first one when I was that age so it is to me. I've still never read the other two all the way through but I'm sure I will one day.



Miss Jaster's Garden: plot the route of a garden stealing hedgehog. Miss Jaster could benefit from a bit of laser eye surgery.



Winnie the Pooh: the first book that had me flipping back to the endpapers every five minutes. [aside - who is the best poet of all?]



Milly Molly Mandy: another endpaper flipper. If you read these when you were small, you'll know how I feel about these books. If you didn't then buy a set for your kids right now - don't let them miss out too!



Treasure Island: The inventor of 'x marks the spot' and another of my favourite books, although more recently discovered.



Any more I should be including?
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10 comments:

  1. Cuttlefishlove21 November 2011 at 22:28

    ooh cool! I was also a literary map lover (an d still am!). My husband even wrote an app so you can get your fictional maps tile-cut so they work with google maps! Its here if you want to try it(is free) : http://www.cfront.co.uk/blog/2011/6/29/using-your-own-map-images-with-google-maps-version-3.aspx

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  2. Fran21 November 2011 at 23:22

    This is awesome. I love a map. I like it when you go somewhere and there's a map and you get to find where you are. It's brilliant.

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  3. dotmund22 November 2011 at 07:26

    That map in Winnie the Pooh is burnt into my memory, what a thing it is.

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  4. Jess22 November 2011 at 13:01

    This is amazing - I freaking love maps, the Middle Earth one is my favourite. How about adding in the map of Westeros? X

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  5. Anonymous22 November 2011 at 13:08

    My daughter loves the maps inside the Princess Poppy books, which shows where all the characters live. Only example I could find quickly online was this:

    http://images.scholastic.co.uk/assets/a/a9/da/pp1-act-puz-109246.jpg

    Which has been turned into a puzzle.

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  6. Janey23 November 2011 at 12:32

    I love a book with a map! I've been reading this series of books (proper old lady books, they are in the 'Saga' section of the library and everything!), and they have a map at the front. Every time a house or place in the village is mentioned, I hop back and take a look!

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  7. Sam24 November 2011 at 11:30

    I used to draw maps of imaginary underground rabbit warrens - they were really luxurious and had cinemas and swimming pools and stuff, but surprisingly little space for living accommodation.

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  8. Hels11 December 2011 at 22:34

    I remember the Winnie the Pooh map!

    I love a map. I flatly refuse to buy a sat-nav on the basis I will lose my map reading skills. I'm terrible with directions but will remember directions if I can see it on a map! I may or may not cheat when hiring a car abroad by also hiring/borrowing a sat-nav though...!

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  9. Corin5 February 2012 at 10:04

    The Chronicles of Narnia!

    The woman who did the maps & illustrations for Narnia is the same woman who did the maps for Tolkein

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauline_Baynes

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  10. Anonymous14 February 2014 at 18:58

    The Swallows and Amazon series, and of course Wind in the Willows

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