Map of You

by Sophie Williams

The journey of self-discovery starts right here!

Aimed at a middle-grade audience, this delightful activity book asks young readers to explore the landscape of their own psyche. They are invited to visit their mountains of strength and wetlands of weaknesses. to confront their ‘forests of fears’, and to take comfort in their ‘islands of interests’. Personality quizzes, coloring in, drawing and designing all feature. Self-examination has never been more enjoyable!

At a time when the mental health of young people is a point of concern, this activity book offers a much-needed opening to ideas of self-awareness, empathy, well-being and mindfulness, with a refreshing optimism and lightness of touch.

72 pages, Paperback

Published May 3, 2022

About the author

Sophie Williams graduated in illustration from Winchester School of Art. Her work is inspired by the works of artists such as Nick Sharratt and Gemma Correll, as well as the beautiful surroundings of her family home in Cornwall.

Reviews

[Kailey (Luminous Libro) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has guided journal prompts, personality quizzes, creative activities, and coloring pages. You can explore your emotions in a healthy way, learn to communicate, and set goals for your mental health.

This is such a cool book! It makes the mental health activities really fun, and all the pages are so attractive. I love the beautiful designs on each page. The bright colors and minimalist designs make it really special.

It's so imaginative the way that the mental health exercises are presented in such an interesting way. You can explore the Forest of Fear, the Meadow of Mindfulness, and the Peaks of Perfection! You can write a Message in a Bottle to help you communicate with others. You can write your favorite memories down in Memory Marsh.

This would be a great book for any age, from children to adults!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 4 out of 5]

For kids who can’t get enough of books that help them explore their inner thoughts and feelings, this book is perfect. Set up as a set of maps ‘into the magical landscape of you,’ it prompts kids to draw, write lists, color to assess own their feelings and dreams. From ‘Self Portrait Sunflowers’ to ‘Mountains of Strength,’ ‘Wetlands of Weakness,’ and the ‘Forest of Fears’ and finally to ‘Stars of Dreams,’ there are many useful exercises that help kids come to terms with facets of themselves that they want to understand better. Most importantly, they will identify the great things about themselves that are their strengths.

The author wrote this book as a way to help with her own anxiety, and it was part of her art school graduate project. The tone is positive and her ideas are insightful. The art is black and white with a bit of color and allows lots of room for filling in prompts, so the book can act as a sort of diary for introspective kids. There are some Britishisms that that will only delight kids, such as using the word ‘chilled’ instead of ‘chill’ for someone who is laid back.

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such fun! This one is a 3.5 for me. I would have loved this book as a preteen or a teen. After all, it is at that point that so many of us are busy exploring our identities and trying to figure out whom we are, what we want to do with our lives, and our strengths and weaknesses. This book offers questions and prompts as well as art activities to help readers do just that as they choose an animal companion, identify a place of safety, break out and take risks, identify their personality type, and consider what attributes are most important in a friend. All of these prompts are nestled within colorful pages with abundant white space for writing as well as clever titles such as Forest of Fears, Lagoons of Loneliness, Mountains of Strength, Peaks of Perfection. Some parents and teachers might even want to use this book as a conversation starter one-on-one or in a small group or to give insight into their own behavior or that of the teens in their life.