ChildrensPictureBook.info Review

The Once Upon a Time Map Book
By B.G. Hennessy
Illustrator Peter Joyce
Publisher Candlewick Press

If you enjoy the maps that are sometimes included in novels, you'll love how B.G Hennessy and Peter Joyce have expanded on that idea for six children's classics. The Once Upon a Time Map Book has six double-page spread maps and information for Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, and Snow White. Children can follow the guided tours using each map's key and coordinates, or they can look for the points of interest and dangers located in each map.

Each map is colorfully printed on heavy, glossy paper. Since these maps were meant to be pored over and used while reading each story, the sturdy construction is appropriate and appreciated. These are not symbolic maps. Illustrations of trees depict the forests. A castle looks like a castle. The maps remind me a bit of a Where's Waldo type picture without being as busy or complicated. Rather than just searching for images, children must follow directions and use map-reading skills to accomplish each tour.

The book would make a great addition to family read aloud time or as a part of a fairy tale unit. The age listed is for six to ten-year-olds, but my twelve-year-old daughter enjoyed the book immensely. A good number of the stories for these maps are also children's movies, so she was able to enjoy the maps without reading the corresponding story.

The Once Upon a Time Map Book

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