Having fled from war in their troubled homeland, a boy and his family are living in poverty in a strange country. Food is scarce, so when the boy's father brings home a map instead of bread for supper, at first the boy is furious. But when the map is hung on the wall, it floods their cheerless room with color. As the boy studies its every detail, he is transported to exotic places without ever leaving the room, and he eventually comes to realize that the map feeds him in a way that bread never could. The award-winning artist's most personal work to date is based on his childhood memories of World War II and features stunning illustrations that celebrate the power of imagination. An author's note includes a brief description of his family's experience, two of his early drawings, and the only surviving photograph of himself from that time. How I Learned Geography is a 2009 Caldecott Honor Book and a 2009 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year.

A book about a refugee that finds comfort and joy in studying a map. This could be good for history or learning about refugees or geography. A good read-aloud for any age or individual for 2nd to 3rd depending on reading level. ( )

This is based on Uri Shulevitz's own childhood about how his family moved away from the Nazis in Poland to Central Asia. This book focuses on the one important object to this author: a map. When his family left the war zone they had scarce resources, so this map was able to alter his reality and give him a sense of imagination to tolerate. The father had bought this map instead of bread because this map fulfilled all their imaginations with color in a dull world. In a history classroom, this is a great book choice to show the effects of war and the impact it has on a family. This is a great opportunity that it is possible to find light in a situation when it's dark. ( )

This is a great book to help students understand how to read maps. It also teaches the power of imagination, and it covers war from a child's perspective. I think this book would be good as an introduction to a geography class. ( )

This story is about a young boy whose family was very poor and could barely afford to eat. One day the boys father brought home a map instead of food went he went into town in search of food for his family. The boy initially was very angry at his father for causing them to go to bed hungry, but eventually came to love the map because looking at it allowed him to travel to places in his mind. This book could be used for a lesson by asking children to dig deeper into the meaning behind the book and have them provide feedback more in depth to answers than can just be found by reading the book. ( )