The real reason I picked this one up: I dig the cover. Hadn’t read anything by Sandell, but I had heard good things about Song of the Sparrow. Really awesome cover + good vibes from a recent book = maybe I should read this one!

Another great novel. I’ve been reading so many lately! A Map of the Known World deals with grief, first love, family, and coming of age. It’s apparent almost from page one that this family is suffering. Each one dealing with their loss in different ways, individually. I su More...

The cover:

The collection of scrap pieces forming the heart is beautiful (though perhaps a more spray-painted effect would've made it more realistic). Black as a background, however, doesn't fly -- it just looks lazy on the book designer's part. A faintly patterned darkish background would've worked better.

The book:

As expected of this kind of "healing" novel, it opens with much first-person musing. Thanks to Cora's gentle-worded narration, the reader makes it through relatively easily. In fact, h More...

A Map of the Known World was a beautiful balance of serious sadness, romance, and art. I often fear "sad" books but I loved the way this one balanced itself out. For every heartbreaking passage there was another about finding a romantic connection, a new friend, or creating a beautiful piece of artwork. It worked really well for me.

Cora's situation seemed so hopeless at first, a family living in silence, forever changed by the loss of their brother and son, struggling to understand him and under More...

Since the death of her older and beloved if reckless brother Nate, Cora has been a little lost. Sure, she can skillfully sketch beautiful maps of foreign places, places she’ll probably never see, but she doesn’t know how to think or act. Her parents don’t seem to notice much anymore unless Cora breaks one of their many strict rules, and even Cora’s best friend Rachel seems distant. It’s all Cora can do just not to get lost within her fried and confusion. The start of high school brings its own t More...

First off, I would like to start by explaining why this book was so good. The first thing is the author's writing style. Her writing is beautiful and really lyrical. When you read the author's descriptions you just want to sit there for a moment after each sentence and just drink in the feel of the words, the way they work together and the image they create. I think reading Ms. Sandell's writing is like eating chocolate, you just want to savour every last taste. The second thing is her character More...

I like the premise, though it's not wholly original; brother dies in car crash and family tries to put back the pieces. Lisa Ann Sandell does an excellent job painting a broken family from the point of view of the only surviving child. I did have great sympathy for Cora because her family was so focused on their own bouts of grief that they didn't really acknowledge hers, especially her father. I came close to tears at a point where Cora's mom breaks down.

At times in the middle, this read a litt More...

While the books starts off slow and corny, it becomes rich once Cara finds a purpose-- that purpose is to showcase the artwork of her dead brother (the artwork she knew nothing about when he was alive since he was a bad-ass troublemaker). Cara's family life is all but destroyed, as Cara describes her family and house as a cemetary-- her father isolating hiimself and drinking and her mother perpetually sad and uncommunicative. And the person Cara shouldn't be with, Damian, Nate's best friend who More...

I really wanted this book to be so much more. I loved the title of the book and I was initially drawn to the cover as well. I thought I was going to get lost in this world of a girl who puts herself in other places to escape the pressure of every day life. I wasn't expecting fantasy, but I wasn't expecting boring.

The writing was so average. It felt so much like a step by step process and it forced me to skim. It also felt like I was reading lots of things that didn't matter in terms of the whole More...

4.0 out of 5 stars Poignant and heartbreakingly sweet....., January 4, 2009

This review is from: A Map Of The Known World (Hardcover) YA FICTION

This story of a teenage girl whose brother died in a car crash is a touching memorial to the spirits of all those who have lost a loved one far too early, and who are searching for answers that might provide relief of that type of heartache and pain.

Cora's brother Nate was a rebel -- always in trouble at school, arguing against expectations and resentful More...

The warmth of a loving household grows cold the moment Cora Bradley’s family loses Nate, the pugnacious son and reckless older brother, in a car accident. The first day of high school arrives, and Cora must enter the world where so many people knew her notoriously troublesome brother. Her art is the only place where she finds comfort. Then, she finds another comfort where she least expects it; in the arms of Damian Archer, Nate’s best friend and the one who survived the car crash. They are mutua More...

Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com

Anger and pain consume Cora; they have since last year when her brother died.

Now her family's broken, barely speaking to each other and barely surviving. Nate's the one who died, but Cora feels the brunt of her parent's disappointment, sadness, and anger.

She's not allowed out after dark, she must come straight home from school, and she can't get into a car without a parent's approval. .

All summer long, she's spent the days inside her room imagining More...

A big thanks to Scholastic for sending me an advanced copy of Lisa Ann Sandell's A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD. Ever since I read and loved Sandell's Song of the Sparrow, I have been eager to see what she would write next. I knew it would probably be something quite different. It both was and it wasn't. Where Song of the Sparrow was an Arthurian novel in verse told from the perspective of Elaine of Ascolat, A MAP OF THE KNOWN WORLD is a contemporary prose novel about a girl named Cora's struggle in t More...

GENRE: Teenage – Fiction
FORM: Book (library)

SYNOPSIS: It has been less than a year since Cora’s brother, Nate wrapped his car around a tree and died. Since that time, her family has been falling apart. Her mother keeps her trapped in the house, she’s not allowed to go anywhere or do anything. Her father doesn’t even speak to her, he just sits in his den watching TV, drinking. The only escape Cora has is in her drawings. Cora draws maps, maps of other countries, countries that she hopes to be abl More...

Starting high school is a nerve-wrecking experience for most, but for Cora it’s downright upsetting. Cora’s brother Nate was killed in a car accident months before and she got through the school year. But now she will be in Nate’s school, with Nate’s friends, and sitting in classes taught by Nate’s teachers. Cora puts all of her energy in her art — her talent is making maps. But when art class is invaded by Nate’s best friend who is the lone survivor of the car accident, Cora’s world changes aga More...

Cora is starting high school, the high school where her dead older brother, Nate, was known as a screw-up and a waster. He died several months ago in a car accident, driving without the headlights on. Now her life is marked by his loss. Her mother is hovering, critical and verging on hysterical while her father drinks away his feelings alone and isolated in his den. Cora escapes from their chaotic life through her art, drawing places on the map and dreaming of actually being there. In high schoo More...

I of course judged this book by its cover. Once I started it, i could not put it down. It starts out with the name character Cora saying "Somewhere else, life has been beautiful and vivid and rich. Not like this muted palette -- a pale blue bedroom, washed out sunny sky, dull green yellow brown of the fields. Here, I know every twist of every road, every blade of grass, every face in this town, and I am suffocating." and while she is thinking this, she decides to paint a pictorial map of the roa More...

“A map of the known world " is about a girl named Cora whose life has been abruptly and unpleasantly changed after the death of her elder brother Nate.
Cora is just 14 years old. And after the death of her brother, everything changes. It’s been 6 months and her parents have not come out of the grief. This is affecting Cora in many ways. She is about to join high school and she is afraid. Her only best friend does not know what and how to talk to her. She is always been seen by everyone as a siste More...

Honestly, this book has a good story. But I found myself struggling to get through it. It doesn't grab your attention. This was almost added to my "Books I Couldn't Bear to Finish" shelf. Sometimes, I felt forced to read it. Thank god it wasn't to long! But it still felt like it took me forever to read.

At first, I couldn't really connect to the protagonist, Cora. She seemed boring and typical. Later in the book, I began to understand Cora's world, how her brother's death effected her, etc. I sti More...

Being a high school freshman is usually traumatic enough. For Cora Bradley, however, it’s worse than average: she lives in the shadow of her older brother, Nate, a notorious misunderstood troublemaker who killed himself when he drove into a tree. The Bradley household, once a warm and friendly place, is now cold, silent, and overbearing. So Cora throws herself into art, drawing elaborate maps of far-off places in her futile attempt to escape the ghosts of her small town.

Cora must deal with norma More...

This book exceeded my expectations. I found myself enjoying the book way more than I ever thought I would. I felt sympathetic for Cora, the pain of losing someone who is close to you. We see how Nate’s death changes things between Rachel (her BFF) and Cora. Damian’s life also changes because of Nate’s death, he is being alienated by everyone. Cora’s life at home is also different.

There are times where I just wanted to hug Cora and tell her everything will be ok. To me, Cora seems much more matur More...

I liked the story, but there were many times the words and phrases seemed unrealistic to me. It became a distraction because those began to jump out at me.

For instance: "My ten-speed bicycle is a smoky, silvery blue, and it's beautiful. I caress the frame, lovingly squeeze the tires." I don't know about you, but I have never caressed a bike before.

"The rest of the week flies by, and I am buoyed my Ms. Calico's praise and encouragement and by Rachel's cheerful banter." Do fourteen year olds use w More...

First things first. The cover is gorgeous; I think it’s even better in person and it suits the story perfectly.

Now to the book. Cora’s brother Nate dies in a car accident which suddenly breaks the entire family as each one of them tries to deal with his death in their own ways. The house is not the same, her parents are not the same and everyone in school thinks she is a freak. Moreover she is starting high school the same year. Could it be any more difficult? And then there is Damien, her broth More...

You know, I'm not that sure of how to describe my review for this book. I thought the book was fantastic and once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. This is on my top 3 favorites, this was an incredible book.

We've had struggles with my older brother, kind of the same way Cora did...and I couldn't help but notice that I was feeling the same way she was when she would think about her brother. I'm not going to elaborate on that, but I'm just going to say that it seemed like we were feeling the More...

I'd read rave reviews of this one, so I went in with high expectations. And it was pretty good. It was well-written, the characters were well-developed, actions and reactions were realistic. But it still didn't hit me.

Like, okay, Twilight--not well-written, everything was unrealistic, the characters were more like caricatures, and it was bad. And yet, I thought it was romantic adn wonderful like ZOMG, I couldn't help it. This book was the opposite of that.

It's not really a fair comparison--thi More...

Cora's older brother Nate was killed in a car accident, and her grieving family is falling apart. The teachers and students at Nate's old high school take pity on her and she is losing her best friend to the popular crowd. But art class is her escape. Cora has a passion is for making maps -- maps of places she's been and where she wants to go. Her parents don't approve of Cora hanging out with Damian. He was her brother's best friend, and was riding with him during the accident. But Damian seems More...

So, I thought this was pretty good, but that it could have been much, much better. I liked the story--a girl and the people around her trying to figure out how to deal with her brother's death in a car accident. The relationship that develops between Cora and her brother's best friend Damien felt real for the most part, and I very much liked her new friend Helena. But I had a hard time believing some of the reactions various characters had--a lot of times things escalated too quickly and felt fo More...

I am a book reviewer and this was sent to me to review.

I was able to read the entire book in a few hours so I can attest that this book isn't boring (it kept me interested in finding out what happened next); however, as the book progressed, the romance (one of the main features of the story) became a little prosaic and predictable.

The writing was good except for the fact that the main character, who is a teenage girl, tends to use very straightforward language, but every once in a while uses a w More...

I LOVED this book. It was SO romantic. Plus it actually realistic unlike most sappy romance stories these days. I am going to read this over and over. There were parts that just made say AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW. In addition I like how it included multiple aspects about Art. The book really let the reader know how you can express yourself through Art. Cora Bradley and Damian Archer may as well be the most dysfunctional couple ever, but you can't spell dysfunctional without love. OK yes you can, but you More...

I really could not stand the narrator of this book. She went from weeping to happy and helping others, to angry - well, she was just a mess, but it all seemed so flat. Maybe it's just not my kind of book, but the character grated on me.

The saving grace of the book was the involvement in art. I really did like that aspect, the way she could connect to her dead brother through his artwork and her own. I don't like how everything settled so quickly towards the end. Her mom went from evil witch of More...