Mazeways: A to Z

Maze Books

by Roxie Munro

Prepare to be astounded, because these are no ordinary mazes! Welcome to Mazeways , where A is for Airport, B is for Boatyard, C is for Circus, and everything is exciting. In this eye-opening world, each letter in the alphabet transforms into a fantastic maze and fingers have to trace a path through fantastically detailed environments. Navigate these puzzles as you would if you were traveling in real life: drive your car on the right side of the road, cross the street only at the crosswalks, and feel free to walk around furniture or landmarks as long as nothing blocks your path. Each maze comes with directions on how to launch into the adventure, and features really cool things to find and guide you along the way—like crocodiles and seals, clown cars and motorcycles, baseball diamonds and sunken treasure, and more!

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens

48 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 2007

About the author

Roxie Munro has been an artist from the age of six, when she won first prize in a county-wide contest for a painting of a bowl of fruit. She has supported herself all her life on her art, at one point freelancing in Washington DC as a television courtroom artist. Clients included CBS, the Washington Post, and the Associated Press. Fourteen of her paintings have been published as covers of "The New Yorker" magazine.

Roxie is an award-winning author/illustrator of more than 35 books for children, primarily nonfiction. Her books have been translated into French, Italian, Dutch, Chinese, and Japanese. Recent books: "Hatch!"; "EcoMazes: 12 Earth Adventures"; "Desert Days, Desert Nights"; "Inside-Outside Dinosaurs"; and "Busy Builders."

"Roxie's a-MAZE-ing Vacation Adventure" is an interactive animated maze game app for the iPad and iPhone; "Roxie's Doors" is a 3-D animated book app for the iPad (OCG Studios, developer). She also did all the art for the new product KIWiSTORYBOOKS (Kids Interactive Walk-in Story Books).

She creates oils, watercolors, prints, and drawings, primarily cityscapes, which are exhibited widely in the US in galleries and museums. Roxie's work is in numerous private, public, and corporate collections.

Roxie Munro studied at the University of Maryland, the Maryland Institute College of Art (Baltimore), received a BFA in Painting from the University of Hawaii, attended graduate school at Ohio University (Athens), and received a Yaddo Fellowship. She lectures in museums, schools, conventions, and teaches watercolor on ships, workshops, and in the Paint in Italy program.

Many of her paintings are views from the roof of her sky-lighted loft studio in Long Island City, just across the East River from her home in mid-Manhattan. Roxie is married to the Swedish writer/photographer, Bo Zaunders.

Check out her website at www.roxiemunro.com

Reviews

[Mari · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kind of like Eye Spy books... but the illustrations aren't as clear cut

[Marcie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found Mazeways at the library just before our last vacation. My daughter spent hours with this book. It came in very handy on the flights and in the dull sections of our drive. When we got back I bought a copy. The book has clever drawings of different familiar locations- A is for airport, P for parking lot, U for underwater, etc. The idea of the book is that the child must follow the directions through the mazes and then find and count items in the drawings. The letter D for example reads, "From the desert mesa, ride your horse down the rutted dirt road. Stop at the chuck wagon for a quick bite, fill your canteen at the water barrel, then search the paths to fid the lost calf.." It teaches vocabulary, sequencing, following directions, and problem solving. And it's fun to do and takes a lot of time! It reminded me a bit of the Where's Waldo books but was more interactive and the writing and art are better.

[Mouse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this book at my local library and showed it to my 5 year old. Right away he wanted to check it out, so we did. He enjoyed this book so much and wanted to go through it every day with either me or his mommy. I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the time spent together with my kid. A lot of fun, love how the ABC's are represented, as well as all the hidden stuff and the little 'quests'. This is a book I would actually buy for my kid to spend more time on it than just checking it out at the library.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Addictive, engaging, and educational. Colorful pictures and a simple script accompany a quest to find varying numbers of objects in a myriad of locations. Questions can easily be tailored for younger seekers or extended upon for those more adept. Teachers put this on your classroom shelf for students who quickly finish their schoolwork!

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

On each page there is a detailed picture scene (kind of like Where's Waldo) that forms a letter of the alphabet (A is an airport, G is a garden). The child traces her way from one part to another (visit the lighthouse and then stop by the restroom on your way to the campground) on the little pathways. There's also a list of items to find in each picture. Great for preschoolers!

[A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really neat Alphabet picture book. There is one page per letter. For each letter there is an interesting and detailed picture of a place. Readers are asked to follow a path with their finger from one item or place in the picture to another. There are also other little items for the reader to find.

[Alexandria Hiam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really neat Alphabet picture book. There is one page per letter. For each letter there is an interesting and detailed picture of a place. Readers are asked to follow a path with their finger from one item or place in the picture to another. There are also other little items for the reader to find.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is fun like Where's Waldo, but way better in terms of opportunity to build critical thinking skills and vocabulary for specific environments. It could be a great book to use in an TESOL context too - map reading skills, prepositions, vocabulary, etc.

[Emily Hens]

This book was a "eye spy" book. Even though it is not a nonfiction book, this book brought in real scenes from places around the world and gave a task to find things on the page. This would be great for a race in the classroom or even something fun for the students to do

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun way to trace a path through the alphabet, very absorbing, for kids and parents too.

[K.Q. Webster · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is addicting! You could do the mazes all day.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and fascinating. 4 y.o. constantly wants to read it.

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great puzzle book of mazes that includes hints in the sidebars! A wonderful book to keep the kids occupied while traveling! Google apps, satellite view in drawings for kids.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. I like how there are things on each page that you need to look for. High interest.