I also liked the illustrations, although I didn't find them the equal of some of Shulevitz's other work ( Snow, for instance), and can't really see that they deserved a Caldecott nod. I liked the way in which something that might not seem like a priority at first - a wall map, of all things - turns out to be the saving grace during a time of crisis.
All stories of children caught up in the madness of war are poignant, and this was no exception. Which isn't to say that I didn't appreciate it, because I did. Given the subject matter, and the fact that I have enjoyed Shulevitz's work before, I really expected to take How I Learned Geography more to heart, than I ended up doing. Resentful at first, Uri eventually comes to treasure the map, which allows him to escape from the harsh reality of his current existence, and to dream of other places and experiences. One evening his father returns from the market, not with the expected bit of bread for the family dinner, but with a colorful wall map. Still very young when bombs begin falling on his home in Warsaw, Uri and his family flee east, eventually settling in Kazakhstan, where they endure great hardship and poverty. Show More about his childhood experiences in war-torn Europe.
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