About 10 years ago, when first dating my Mister Mister, I gave him an atlas as a gift. I was still doing lots of globe-trotting, and wrote him a little message about "this way you can always find me". A few months back, our little daughter found the book, and instantly loved it. Now it's one of her favorites - she spends hours a day reading it, using it as a bounce-off point for play and discussions.
Oh, and painting. Watercolor painting lends itself really well, apparently, to painting the world. Little brushes for little islands, pointing out where hurricanes can grow and which parts of the world get quite hot and desert-like. Such a clear example of how our children can, in so many incredible ways, be our teachers. It has reinforced for me the need to offer my children space and time to come up with what they want to do, what is important to them, and help and support them along that path.
I just rearranged the art pantry (actually a closed off back 100 year old servant/nanny stairway at the back of the house leading off the kitchen) to make it much more child-user-friendly, so that she doesn't even need to ask me for watercolor paper or glue or tissue paper or anything. I often feel so humbled as a parent.
So the Peters World Atlas - in case you're looking for one for a holiday gift, a birthday present, or just a great book to have around in your family... is fabulous. It's actually the first atlas to show each country at the same scale, and at its true size in relation to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, so many atlas maps show North America to be far larger and more prominent than it actually is in the world, size-wise.
There are hundreds of color thematic maps, covering religions, population structure, unemployment, sports, life expectancy, internet use, and more. Turns out that Peters was motivated by and interested in issues relating to social justice and equity, so he set out to make a book with visual representations of child labor, infant mortality, etc. Now given my daughter's age, we definitely approach this in an age-appropriate way. But some of the information is wonderfully accessible for her, and more will be as she grows.
An atlas would be a wonderful gift! Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteOh delightful! I love maps and atlases. They have long been my favorite books. My dad uses maps as wrapping paper, and I make journals and cards with maps in them. I've spent a lot of time painting maps, making up worlds, islands, seas... This post has reminded me that my kids would love to see me drawing and painting in this way. My eldest doesn't like being given projects, but I think she'd be pretty inspired at the thought of making maps of the world in her own style. Thank you! :)
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