Maps Activity Book

So, a couple years ago I predicted that my kids would still be flipping through the book Maps by Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski-and I was right. The pages are well-loved, and it's still displayed prominently on our coffee table. So recently we've added the MAPS Activity Book to our collection, and my kids are equally entertained by this coloring and activity book that lets them get creative about geography and world cultures. This oversized coloring book has tear-out pages about the size of a place mat. And that's one way I use it-keeping the kids busy while I cook dinner. Or unpack the take-out boxes. They can color animals from around the world, identify the continents on a world map, design your own kimono, or create intricate patterns on Mexican sugar skulls. It's a really nice mix of geography and culture in one book. I think the reason my kids have kept returning to the MAPS Activity Book over, say, their Dora coloring books, is because it allows so much freedom to be creative. You're not just filling in the colors on countries' flags; you have a place to design your own flag too. And when your life's dream is to be the ruler of the world - which my kids are practicing hard for, and I'm sure they're not alone - then naming your own country and designing its flag is a great place to start. -- Kate Etue * Cool Mom Picks * Using the same principles and in the same series, Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski's Maps Activity Book is a little more difficult but equally rewarding. There is a wide range of information about all kinds of aspects of the world, as well as puzzles to be solved and new things to be drawn and designed. -- Julia Eccleshare * The Guardian *

Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2007. In 2010 they were nominated for the Bologna Ragazzi Award and have since been nominated for the IBBY Honour List (2010).