Follow That Map! (Confetti Kids #7):

by Sheri Tan, Shirley Ng-Benitez (Illustrator)

Five friends from diverse backgrounds learn how to navigate common childhood challenges, new experiences, and the world around them in the realistic and kid-friendly Confetti Kids early chapter books.Pablo and his friends want to spend the last day of summer at Coney Island. They can ride bumper cars or play ring toss--there's so much to do! But first, they need to figure out how to get to Coney Island from their neighborhood. It's a long trip on the bus and subway, so it's a good thing Pablo has his trusty maps to help them find the way. Coney Island or bust!

Genres: Friendship, Transport, Maps

32 pages, Paperback

Published June 18, 2019

About the author

Sheri Tan has always loved reading. Growing up in Singapore, her favourite author was Enid Blyton and she often wished she had adventures like the Famous Five or that she attended Malory Towers. After college, Sheri became a writer and editor of children’s books and worked in New York City for many years before returning to Singapore.

Reviews

[Stephanie Bange · Rating 3 out of 5]

From the "Dive into Reading" series of beginning readers, this one has a predictable story, simple dialogue, and a vocabulary that is just right for emergent readers.

Summer is almost over, so Pablo and his diverse circle of friends decide to make a trek to Coney Island for a last day of fun. Since Pablo loves to read maps, he plans out the route they need to take to get there. With his father providing the adult supervision for the adventure, the kids navigate walking to the bus stop and boarding a bus, switching to the subway, then arriving at the amusement park with a map to guide them there.

Tan's story is straightforward kid-driven. It is empowering that the kids to be responding to the question "Are we there yet?" Shirley Ng-Benitez's digitally altered watercolor artwork is bright and cheerful. An activity on map-making is included in the back of the book.

This would be a useful title to have as a browser when studying how to read maps, showing children the importance of knowing how to read and use them.

Optional purchase for grades K-2.

[Sara Magnafichi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Lee and Low for providing a copy of this book with #Collabookation. This early reader brings 5 friends together from New York City. They decide to spend the day at Coney Island. Pablo talks his dad into taking them and begins to study their path of how to get there. With his love of maps, he studies the city map, the bus map, and eventually the Coney Island map. The group realizes how maps are beneficial in helping you plan a journey. I can see this story being a great addition to the introduction of various maps. Young readers need text that they can access, and this book does the job with the appropriate amount of text per page.

[Ashley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book would be great either be used in a lesson on maps or as an independent read for elementary students.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

(Read aloud by himself at 5yo, missed one name, “Mei”.)

[Shauna Yusko · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 1/2