Map Mania by Michael DiSpezio is an entertaining and factual book about maps, compasses, and other things you need to know to find out where you are and how to get places. The author uses activities, drawings, quizzes, and more to teach about scale, triangulation, using a compass, and time and space. He also writes a little about the history of maps and navigators.

The book has some good facts and uses some words that are a bit challenging, but not hard to understand. The writing is sometimes silly. It is easy to follow the directions for the activities. There is a good table of contents and a small index. The illustrations don’t need captions because they always go with the text.

I would like to learn more about maps, cartography and navigation. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t have any lists that help me find more information. There is also no bibliography, so the reader can’t tell where the author’s information came from.

I would recommend this book to a friend who likes different kinds of science. It is a good first book about maps, but it doesn’t go very far and it doesn’t help you go farther. For this reason, I think it should only be a Cornerstones book if there are other mapping books on the list.

~ Cecilia H., So. Portland, ME
1st Place 3rd Grade, 2007 Read, Write & Win