A Map into the World

The illustrations in this book are wonderful and fully embrace the joys that this book can bring. ( )

This book is about a little girl who experiences gardening with her grandmother when her little brothers are babies, and drawing for her neighbor when his wife passes away. This book has beautiful illustrations and would be great for incorporating families with a diverse culture and history into the classroom. This book would be appropriate for intermediate readers. ( )

This was such a gentle and beautiful book about being part of a family and a community. The illustrations are amazing and the text is thoughtful and authentic.

Read at the Carle Museum

A young Hmong-American girl moves into a new house with her pregnant mother, father, and grandmother; their neighbors are an elderly white couple, Bob and Ruth. Over the course of a year, the seasons change: summer brings the birth of twin baby boys, and winter brings Ruth's death. The girl and her family go over to Bob's house and the girl asks to chalk his driveway, drawing "A map into the world. Just in case you need it" to help her grieving neighbor.

A heart-wrenching story of intergenerational, cross-cultural friendship.

Illustrations created digitally with digital graphite, pastels, watercolors, and scanned handmade textures. Endpapers show the special "story cloth" showing how the Hmong got to America that Paj Ntaub hangs with her grandmother, Tais Tais ( )

It was a fine book and a sweet story but it made me cry and I was expecting something different. I wouldn't be able to read it out loud without crying so I'm not sure I'd want to read it again. ( )