The Once Upon a Time Map Book

by B.G. Hennessy, Peter Joyce (Illustrator)

Six comprehensive maps lead children on a tantalizing tour of their favorite magical kingdoms and introduce them to the way maps work.

Once upon a time, fairy-tale kingdoms existed only in the realm of the
imagination. But now, this mesmerizing book of maps brings lands like
Neverland, Oz, and Aladdin's kingdom as close as kids' fingertips. Want to retrace Alice's steps through Wonderland? Start at the rabbit hole and follow the map past the Duchess's house to the croquet ground (just remember not to eat anything along the way!). With maps of six different lands to explore, each offering special points of interest, hidden objects to find, and dangers to avoid, young readers will be spending a lot of time in ONCE UPON A TIME — and learning valuable map-reading skills along the way.

Genres: Picture Books, Geography, Fantasy, Maps, Childrens, Fairy Tales, Reference

16 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

A LITTLE ABOUT ME

As a child I loved to draw-but I also loved books, especially picture books. I still remember certain illustrations, covers and bindings from books that were read to me as a young girl.
I’ve lived in many places: I grew up in Wantagh on Long Island, N.Y., graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Massachusetts and attended St. Lawrence University in upstate New York.

At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, I majored in fine art and learned how to design, print and bind handmade books. I also took courses in Children’s Literature. The combination of form and content in the picture book format fascinated me and after graduation I headed for NYC where I worked for 17 years in children’s book publishing as a designer and art director. But I didn’t begin to write until I had children of my own.

My books have been published in many countries and in many different languages. You can find my books in the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and Germany. Some of my books have been translated into German, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Tswana, Sesotho, and Zulu!

I now live with my family in Arizona. You can read more about me at my website: www.bghennessy.com

Reviews

[extraordinary ordinary whimsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun book that practices map skills. My four year old loved it and I can definitely see reading it again when she's old enough to do the challenges alone.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely adored this book when I was 6. Everyone in the entire grade 1 class did (often leading to fights at borrowing time, oh dear!). When I finished year 12, the librarian gave it to me because it was too old to be in the school library. When I opened it up I could see why, obviously not just my year had loved this book.

It takes readers on a journey through 6 magical lands as they find 'wedding presents' for Prince Charming and Cinderella. I cannot even explain how wild my imagination was when reading this book and the hours I would spend making up various adventures in each land.

[Amy Seto · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides maps for tours of six enchanted lands. Fly to Neverland with Peter Pan, skip down the yellow brick road with Dorothy, fall down the rabbit hole to Wonderland, climb the beanstalk to the Giant’s kingdom, see the sights at the market in Aladdin’s kingdom, and enjoy the lush greenery of the Enchanted Forest where Snow White and the seven dwarves live. Can you follow the directions to navigate your way through each of the six lands? Can you avoid all the perils and find all the hidden objects?

Hennessy and Joyce have created a playfully illustrated book to help kids practice map reading. Each map is set against an quadrant grid (can you find the Jolly Roger at A4?) and a compass to provide directional context is placed in the corner. Readers must consult the key to figure out how long a munchkin mile is and how to recognize the pebble road as compared to the yellow brick road. Points of interest are featured, as well as warnings about dangers to avoid and items to find hidden in the map. The text, especially the map directions, is descriptive and utilizes a wide vocabulary. The illustrations are detailed and intentionally busy in places. Each map is rendered in a similar style, but in a different color palate. For instance, Aladdin’s kingdom uses a palate of yellows, oranges, and reds, while Wonderland is a combination of grass green and red brick.

Full Review at Picture-Book-a-Day: http://picturebookaday.blogspot.com/2...

[Davida "Davi" · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book that has taught my son (age 4.5) about maps. It is so fun. This book is not just words on a page, but it inspires adult-child interaction - oh, wait, let's look in the key; let's look at the compass rose; what's southeast? - without being patronizing or pendantic to either party. So much fun. Seriously - my son has spent 2 days drawing a map of his "neighborhood" - where his stuffed animals live - in the style of this book. I've helped him write down directions. We got this book from the library and bought it within the week because I could see it is a treasure.

[Portable · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoughtfully illustrated and ingenious book for learning about maps through fairytales. It might be a bit advanced for kindergarten, the text is very small, but I am including it in our library as a starting point for thinking about maps. Plus children enjoy the illustrations! It includes maps on these fairytales: Peter Pan, the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Jack and the Beanstalk, Aladdin, and Snow White. Might be a good one to share at home after reading one of the related fairytales, and you can encourage children to draw their own maps.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up The Annotated Alice to help me thoroughly prepare for our upcoming bookgroup discussion of Alice in Wonderland. I don't think you could find any book that would explain and provide thoughtful commentary for the curious aspects of this very curious book. Just for fun, I also read Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by Alison Jay, along with the Disney Step into Reading version, and the board book version, Alice in Wonderland: A Colors Primer. And I read The Once Upon a Time Map Book: Take a Tour of Six Enchanted Lands (including Alice's) and Alice in Wonderland Adapted for the Stage.

[Siskiyou-Suzy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a signed copy of this book at St. Vinnie's. The things people will get rid of! It's a great book for older children who love fairy tales. It has a puzzle element (a map grid to follow; objects to find), and it's a nice reminisce of fairy tale lands.

(My used copy has written in it: For Brianna -- Happy travels -- B.G. Hennessy.)

[Gren Langley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be the book that started it all. Well, not my obsession with maps, really, by my obsession with the accuracy of maps of fictional worlds. Also, details. This book has so many tiny details, I'm still not sure I've seen them all.

I wish there were more than 6 maps in this book.

[Sarah Goodwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great for teaching maps! It presents a large scale view of fairytale stories that students are most likely familiar with. It would be great for a cross-curricular activity! Ot also has a key and markings for longitude and lagitude.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a really cool book! It took me awhile to find all the hidden objects because they were so small! (My cheaters weren't much help for these 50+ year old eyes.) My niece will enjoy these maps, especially if she's familiar with the stories. It also teaches a few map reading skills.

[The Brothers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Very fun book with detailed maps of magical places (Peter Pan's island, Oz, etc.) There's a path to follow and hidden pictures to find in each map. So fun!

Fantastic illustrations - so detailed.

[kristen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book has maps of famous fictional kingdoms (Oz, Neverland). Very cool book to use when practicing map reading skills with students.

[Katrina · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this one, although the kids ADORE it - how could they not love it when it's full of maps (and they never tire of drawing their own treasure maps, etc.)

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent map reading practice for school aged children set in a humorous context. Also gives them the opportunity to spy out hidden objects or people.

[Haylee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun. Venture into fairy-tale lands. Directions to follow to find your way through each setting plus bonus seek-and-find items.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an especially good book if you want to teach your children about or they are interested in maps.

[Capn]

It's the fairy-tale trip of a lifetime! Join Peter Pan, Snow White, and many more of your favorite storybook characters in a tour of the lands of Once Upon a Time.

This spectacular travel guide contains:
- comprehensive map of each land
- special points of interest
- detailed routes to follow
- hidden objects to find
- danger lurking on every place!
"A charming concept. . . . Sufficiently packed with diminutive images so that it can be pored over for a long time." - Booklist
Ages 6 - 9

Inside, it reads:
"Come on a tour of six magical Once Upon a Time lands.
You will have a map and directions for each land. Around each map are letters and numbers to help you find your way. A compass shows the directions of north, south, east, and west. A key identifies local routes and distances.
There are treasures hidden in each land. See if you can find all six."

I have no idea where this book came from. I was tidying up the home library and saw it. A young friend? My MIL? School? An uncracked spine, never read - and it turns out to be exactly my kind of read, too!
Magic!

[Joshua Troyano · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was quite an interesting buy as I kind of had an idea of how I would use it with my preschool class room, and it ended up being their favorite book to look at. They enjoyed searching for the different hidden characters and scenary, talking about the fantasy worlds that they have seen in TV and in stories.
It was also a great way of building maps with the kids, some children then made their own maps of the class room, or treasure maps for their friends to use in the garden. It was a great way of developing their language and directional skills as they enjoyed discussing their fantasy lands, and we then built are own for the kids to go on.
We also used the coordinates to help develop their number and letter recognition and it was interesting to see how they tried to figure out this information.

[Alice Streatfeild · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had hoped to use this as a hook for a geography lesson on maps for lower KS2 but I found myself frustrated that it had characters in the ‘maps’ and I wish the images were 2D and an aerial view.

However having said that it includes some concepts of maps (grid lines to do co-ordinates) and a key. It uses stories that are likely to be familiar (Peter pan, Snow White etc) and it can be a way to talk to children about what makes it a good map or a bad map. I can see this as being a great book to have for children to choose from a topic display/ or your class bookshelf as it is engaging and has puzzles in it.

Could be great to then create their own maps of stories they know.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever wanted to navigate Neverland, Wonderland or the Land of Oz?
Try your hand at following legends and maps in this fun search-and-find, directionally guided quest through multiple fantastical worlds from some favorite places in Children's literature.

The illustrations by Peter Joyce are stunning. Fun and enjoyable for young map-readers, teachers/educators/librarians, and families;

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

I straight up forgot this book existed! I swear, this is the same one I grew up reading with my younger cousins! Unless I'm very much mistaken, this map book is what I used to love to "explore" while visiting my cousin's house when I was very small. I never would have known it still existed had it not been for my recent deep dives into Ebay. It's a delightfully interactive book with cute illustrations, and lots of hidden details. Highly recommend for the young and young at heart.

[Tiffiny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of all the books we got about maps and map reading, this was by far my 9 yo daughter's favorite. Each spread is based on a different familiar fairy tale with step-by-step instructions to get from one place to another using the key and other components of the map. She was totally engaged and learned more about map reading from this book than any of the other books we read. Love it!

[Aabha Sharma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who doesn’t love maps and these ones are lovely fanciful imagining of our favourite storybook lands. My younger self would have lost it over this map book. I really loved the different vibes each of the maps gave off. Perhaps the Snow White one was a bit of an afterthought, not as detailed as the others.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exploring familiar lands- fairy tale worlds - is the absolute best way to teach early map reading skills to a little learner. It is not a book to read in one sitting, instead, we rotated this book in with our reading time and explored a different land or two each time.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

My 8yo daughter and I had so much fun with this book, following the directions all over the map of each magical land and looking for the two or three tiny items hidden in the detailed illustrations (reminiscent of Where’s Waldo).

[TJE · Rating 3 out of 5]

cool maps, definitely tiny details...to small for toddler and she didn't know enough of the stories to be interested in the maps but she did love seeing Neverland. Would consider checking out (or looking for a similar but more current book of maps) again when she is older.

[Jenna Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is brilliant. I wish there were more!

[Yara Hossam · Rating 4 out of 5]

My kids at school absolutely loved looking for the hidden treasures in the book.

[Catie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not a story, just a book of maps to fictional worlds (Neverland, Oz, etc.).

[Mills · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Once Upon a Time Map Book is centred around Cinderella and Prince Charming's honeymoon. They take a journey through six lands: Neverland, Oz, Wonderland, the Giant's Kingdom (Jack and the Beanstalk), Aladdin's Kingdom and the Enchanted Forest. There is a map of each which takes you on a brief guided tour through each land, catching the tourist spots and keeping an eye out for a hidden wedding present/the Lost Boys/the Cheshire Cat/etc... before making it back home to the castle, in time for a Happily Ever After.

I think it's best to view this book as a story/film tie-in, a novelty, rather than a story in its own right. It will mainly hold appeal for a child who knows and loves these magical kingdoms from their storybooks, although it could also be good for teaching directions/map-reading. I doubt, however, if it will be a book you'll come back to time and time again, hence only three stars. There's not enough story for that.