Schoolside Press-The Little Man in the Map

I was excited when we received The Little Man in the Map. And it was the very same week we were studying the United States geography with My Father's World!The children wanted to read it right away...and again, and again.

The Little Man in The Map by E. Andrew Martonyi is "A journey through the 50 states using catchy rhymes and clever pictures. The boundaries of the states are used to create visual images to connect state names to their location on the map".

We did enjoy the pictures. My favorite was the Virginia Ham, and Roo enjoyed the little man in the map.

Roo, after reading the book one time, was able to identify 39 states! We had done a pre-test on U.S Geography two days before for our regular curriculum. He was only able to identify 5 states correctly at the time. The second time Roo read the book, he could point to 43 of the states!

This book is fun, but there are some images parents may not agree with, such as elves, and a monster face.

As an educational tool, I do recommend this book. The Schoolside Press website offers supplemental material to go with the book. You can download coloring pages or purchase a wall map. As a book children will love, I highly recommend The Little Man in the Map.


(orig. posted 12/10/08)