Product Description

Learning all 50 U.S. states is easy when you learn from The Little Man In the Map! Asked by their teacher to find clues for memorizing the states, students begin to see imagesa hat, a shirt, a pair of boots formed by state boundaries. When they put some of them together, they're amazed to find the outline of a man standing in the middle of the map. Excited by their discovery, they draw a face and arms on him and create The Little Man In the Map, whom they nickname MIM. Their imaginations bring MIM alive, and with his help they discover the surprising roles all the states can play. Soon they can spot the elf, the playful dog, the spooky head, and all the others. This imaginatively illustrated story, narrated in rhyme by The Little Man In the Map, shows each state's part in its region and how it interacts with those around it. This makes learning their locations visual, easy, and fun.

MIM Awards as of 4/8/2009

Moonbeam Children s Book Awards

Silver Medal Winner Non-Fiction Picture Book

Independent Book Publishing Professionals Group

Silver Medal Winner Outstanding Book of the Year, Most Original Concept

2008 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Finalist Children s Picture Book

Finalist Education/Academic

ForeWord Magazine

Finalist - Book of the Year Award

USA Book News

Finalist Best Book Awards

Eric Hoffer Book Awards

2009 Montaigne Medal finalist. (and on Short List)

Printing Industry of Minnesota

2007 Certificate of Merit for Print Excellence in Books

Chicago Book Clinic The 57th Annual Book Clinic

Honorable Mention School Publishing PreK/Primary with 4/C Internals (Won by Scholastics)

The Newberry Library

"Especially in the last decade, we ve really built up substantial holdings in the history of geographic pedagogy, and our professional development programs for teachers have become a fixture, so MIM has found a very appropriate home."

- Robert W. Karrow, Jr. Curator of Special Collections and Curator of Maps

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #106580 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 64 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780978510046
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Customer Reviews

Video Preview of The Little Man in the Map
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R22B4LTTTTTXER

Teaching Tykes Terrain
When I was in grade school back in the early 70s, I learned American geography through rote memorization. As a result, if I were tested to write in all the names of the sates on a map of the US Today, I would probably get a C at best. E. Andrew Martonyi's delightful "The Little Man In the Map" has changed that for the children in my life. It provides charming clues which help kids learn geography by heart. Ed Olson's illustrations are enchanting and captivate young imaginations, making geography magical and fun.

I bought this book for my nephew's fifth birthday, along with some art supplies and candy. He ignored the other gifts and carried "The Little Man In the Map" around all day, even looking at it in front of the TV. My sister reports his fascination has not faded.

This book should be in every school across America. Buy it for every kid you know and take it to their teachers!

The Little Man In the Map
"A blank map of the U.S.A. plus your imagination are all you need to learn the states--all fifty in our nation."

A man in the map, a pack of schoolbooks, a mitten, a drinking cup, a longhorn chair and Old Man winter are just a few of the imaginative cues that Andrew Martonyi and Ed Olson have created to help children remember the shape and place of the 50 states.

Ed Olson has extensive experience with companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and Sony. This experience is evident in the quality of the illustrations in this book. His purpose, as stated on his blog is "to bring US Geography alive and let kids experience geography through their own eyes and imagination and make learning geography easy and fun."

I think my kids definitely agree. I have been using mnenomic based aids in our schoolwork over the last few years whenever I can find them. For kids with memory problems, they are very helpful. My nine year old daughter especially was quite taken with the imaginative illustrations.

The first section of the book is devoted to the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and Louisiana. When viewed in isolation, they most definitely resemble a man with a hat. The remainder of the book is divided into regions -- Northeastern, Southeastern, Midwestern, South Central, Western, Alaska and Hawaii. I would study each of the regions separately, or to go along with a unit study.

I'll be happy to review this with my kids again. It definitely takes the "yuck" out of geography and I look forward to when they release the title for state capitals!