The Little Man in the Map

We had the pleasure of receiving a book called The Little Man in the Map from School Side Press. It is a harback book and when it arrived I was impressed just looking at the cover and seeing the numerous awards that the book has been given. A book of the year award as well as an Independent Publisher Book award to name a couple.

I admit when we started reading the book, I was a bit skeptical. There was a lot of story and details and I wondered if my children would retain any of the states when finished. However, I was pleasantly surprised. All of my reading children are beginning to know states and when we started each of the older three only knew about three states in our country.

The book uses rhyming as well as engaging illustrations and characters to guide you through all fifty states. I was most impressed with the vivid illustrations, making this is a fun read. The main character is a leprachaun as well as other characters in the drawings that are magic in inspiration so if you don't care for that this may be something to consider. I personally don't care for those kinds of characters but didn't feel they compromised our beliefs in the story. It was more of a fairy tale feel and foster use of the imagination common in the Charlotte Mason style of learning.

This is a great supplemental resource for teaching the fifty states and one that I have been grateful to try out as this is part of our 3rd/4th grade curriculum in our house. You can purchase the book for $19.95 as well as wall map for $21.95 or $35.00 for both products. You can also download free coloring pages from the book on the website. Visit School Side Press or The Old Schoolhouse Store for more details.