Books in Children Map the World series

100 world maps drawn, painted, crayoned, sewn, and knitted by children over the past decade are featured in this retrospective survey of the work of young cartographers and symbologists. Many of the images are arresting and offer a wide variety of perspective; younger children's maps are often accompanied by comforting images of childhood, such as teddy bears or birthday cakes, while older children tend to show images of poverty, disease, and warfare. Despite this scattering of painful images, the maps express the worldwide hopes of children for opportunity, economic development, friendship, and international understanding, and they have helped raise the standard for maps and atlases produced for children and young people. This is the first time the International Cartographic Association has ever allowed publication of these striking pieces of artwork.

Children Map the World: Commemorating the International Map Year, volume 4, presents 50 maps created by children ages 5 to 15 for the 2015 International Cartographic Association map design competition, held in Brazil. These various types of maps convey powerful messages of various emotions that reflect this competition's theme: “My Place in Today's World.” This edition also includes what the organizers call an “atlas” of 50 additional outstanding maps from previous competitions; these maps and images are featured in part two of the book. Children, parents, teachers, and map enthusiasts will delight in the work of these imaginative young cartographers. The children's representations of the world and life on it demonstrate their varied perspectives on the state of our planet, from optimism to pessimism, grandeur to light-heartedness, and beauty to sobering and sometimes frightening truths.