12. How I Learned Geography

I must admit, in choosing this book I proverbially "judged a book by it's cover". I saw the intricate border and brightly colored 3-D landscape of a map (with a boy flying over it) and thought, "This book must be cool." It turns out that I was right.

A Caldecott Honor winner, this book was written in 2008 by Uri Shulevitz. In a nutshell, it details the autobiographical story of Shulevitz fleeing his native Poland at the age of 4 after the Warsaw blitz (during the beginning of WWII). He and his family then moved to (what is now) Turkestan, living a life of poverty. One day, Shulevitz's father goes to buy some bread, but comes back with a map. While initially angry, the young Uri eventually becomes fascinated by the map and through it learns to use his imagination to escape from the harsh world he lives in. Uri's father was wise to buy the map, for although it did not nourish their bodies as the bread would have, it nourished Uri's soul and provided 'food for the spirit'.

Part of the beauty of this book is that it is so simple-- the words are simple enough for a child to understand, yet the content and emotion in them is full of depth for older children, too. The words are rhythmic and almost poetic, evoking images without the need for pictures. Yet the illustrations bring a whole other level of mastery to the book.

Shulevitz uses watercolor and ink (with some aspects of collage) to create his moving illustrations. The first opening fills us with a sense of fear and urgency as the blood red of the picture (and the word 'war') shows us the destruction of his native Poland. With the turn of the page, we have journeyed to the sand-colored homes of Turkestan where the muted colors show us what life was like in those times. Shulevitz's almost monochromatic palette depicting his home emphasize his feelings at those times. The styles seems to be a mixture of folk-art and impressionism. With the arrival of the map, though, the reader gets a new palette of colors and lines. Rather than the sandy colors and desert scenes, we are transported to a bolder blue of the ocean, sharp, white mountains, textured and lushly carved temples, as well as forests and cities. 

The small frames that enclosed Uri and his family in the first few pages grow to double page spreads as Uri flies over the world, "far from...hunger and misery". Shulevitz maintains deep ink outlines around his figures that give them form and shape. The image of Uri flying past the landscapes give the reader a sense of motion to turn the page.

While this book could be used to share with younger children the power of the imagination and the idea of a fantastical journey, the author's note reminds us that this is the real story of a man's traumatic childhood. Thus, older children can learn from this story about the effects of war and the power of hope in difficult times. Even the title, "How I Learned Geography" can be picked apart by teenagers in a discussion of people's ignorance of the rest of the world until they are forced to learn about it in times of war. Whatever the purpose for reading it, this book is powerful and should remind us of the whole wide world of human experience that is out there.

P.S. This is Uri's drawing of the marketplace in Turkestan when he was 13 years old.