| | |  | Curricula | Home » » The Little Man In the Map: With Clues To Remember All 50 States | | | | | | | 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: | | | Author:
| E. Andrew Martonyi | | Hardcover:
| 64 pages | | Publisher:
| Schoolside Press | | Publication Date:
| July 07, 2007 | | Language:
| English | | ISBN:
| 0978510046 | | Product Length:
| 11.4 inches | | Product Width:
| 9.46 inches | | Product Height:
| 0.43 inches | | Product Weight:
| 1.22 pounds | | Package Length:
| 11.2 inches | | Package Width:
| 9.7 inches | | Package Height:
| 0.5 inches | | Package Weight:
| 1.35 pounds | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 38 reviews |
| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 38 customer reviews )
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
 The Little Man In the MapApr 19, 2009
By M. K. Mesa
"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!
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Good but not a "must have" for young children.Apr 10, 2009
By D. Parker
I'd been looking for homeschool materials on the U.S. map and found this book. My kids are very young, just 4 & 5 but I thought a rhyming book would be fun for them to start hearing about the states.
I think it's a bit much for younger grade school kids. I could see an older upper grade school age child getting much more out of this. The rhymes aren't all that easy to memorize or go along with, and some of the connections in drawings and "clues" are a leap for younger children to make. I didn't think all the clues and hints were entirely very clever either. I'll keep reading it to them and going over the pictures as their years go on. I think it'll be handy when they're snapping to more of the concepts this book uses, but truth be told I got farther with them memorizing states just with rote learning, pointing and naming and memorizing just like many of us did in school. I related states to where family members were born, shapes of the states that were easy to see, something that might be of personal interest to them about that state, etc. The rhymes and clues were just more to remember and they got a little distracted with the main objective. All in all, not a must have book for teaching young children IMO.
9 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Teaching Tykes TerrainAug 10, 2007
By Katie Jane Wennechuk
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!
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Outstanding!Jun 12, 2008
By Tsaba House
If only this book had been available 20 years ago when I first started homeschooling my 6 children! I am thankful it's available now so I can use it as curriculum for my last two homeschooled children.
When I first introduced it to my 11 and 13 year old daughters I told them I wanted them to give it a try and do one page a day. Later that night I went to check on them in their beds and found them under the covers with a flashlight! To my amazement they had their Man in The Map book and immediately started begging me to 'please' let them do more than one page a day! At the end of the school year I tested them to see what they had retained and they could rattle off the states and capitals without missing a beat! Now THAT is curriculum a homeschooling Mom can fall in love with! The knowledge they gained and retained will follow them throughout their life and be invaluable to them. This easy and fun to read book is colorful, accurate, and best of all it keeps the kids begging for more!
They jump out of bed in the morning excited about doing their schoolwork because this book makes it feel like fun and a special treat. Not only is it great for teaching geography but you can read it to a small child at bedtime just for fun. The 'Dr. Suess' like rhyming keeps them enthralled and entertained and makes a home in their memory. As a homeschooling Mom I look for the best curriculum I can find to enrich my children's education. As the President and Owner of a mid sized Publishing House I know what a quality book looks like and this one is exceptional. This is a book that will be handed down for generations in my family. There's nothing out there I can compare it to - but this is a book that people will try to imitate and compare books to for many years to come.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Little Man, Big ImpactFeb 02, 2009
By Homeschooler4life
Geography is an important subject, but I have not given it the focus it deserves. I usually do the basics (7 continents, our state in general, oceans, etc.) until the children begin 3rd or 4th grade. In the past, I discussed the states/capitals but without much flair. But for my youngest-look out! I have been introduced to some great reading books, and lapbooking kits that are sure to make the study of anything geography related-a lot more fun.
I had never heard of The Little Man in the Map . I wasn't even sure what a little man would be doing in a map! Then the package arrived, and all my questions were laid to rest. The Little Man in the Map is the clever brainchild of the author, E. Andrew Martonyi. He took what most of us have looked at all our lives, gave it a man-figured shape named MIM, and a book all his own. The story is so charming and witty that my son begs to have it read to him just about daily. I have heard him chattering about the "Sleeve of America", a "Flashlight", a "Turtle's head", and don't forget that "Longhorn chair with that state you scoot just a bit". I couldn't believe how quickly he was picking up the clues to finding the state's locations and helpful names that MIM gave them. Finally, a children's book that fits the Charlotte Mason method, and is full of clever rhymes to help remember the 50 states.
The is a very nice hard-backed book with bright, and well-illustrated images. I was pleased to see the high quality too. This one is a keeper. To top it off, Mr. Martonyi is working on a book that uses rhymes to teach the capitals. So between the two books, some great on-line resources, geography and coloring books, my son should be well acquainted with the 50 states!
Now, just so you know: there are a few elves in there, but they are similar to what you'd see in a book on Santa..those sort of characters, nothing ridiculous. The Montana state dude was a bit scary (sorta like a mild Frankenstein) in one scene, but he livens up when Wyoming is attached to help make him laugh and sing-so kids could easily get over it. Alaska looks like a grouchy Old Man Winter, but again-nothing nightmare causing (in my humble opinion). There are two references that I saw to magic, but it is presented as relating to imagination magic. I personally did not feel it bothersome. But that is a judgement call you will need to make, so I wanted to be sure to mention it. If you follow the CM method, then you are familiar with the inclusion of fairies, elves and magical creatures (after all, CS Lewis used them in his writings); and know that they are not meant to drag a soul into the dark-side, but to encourage a whimsical and playful imagination.
I should think children ages 5-10 would most benefit from this charming book. I am sure a few older ones who struggle with state names and locations, would find this to be a refreshing way to learn them.
I highly recommend this fun, and entertaining book!
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