Ruby Maps Her World

“Today I go outside to map my world all by myself for the first time,” writes young Ruby in a brand-new birthday journal. As the protagonist, portrayed with dark hair and pale skin, charts her neighborhood and park (her mother, a cartographer, and dog, Magellan, follow at a distance), measured text by Yolen and reportorial watercolor-textured digital illustrations by Phumiruk convey a knowable and approachable landscape. But Ruby’s notes are about more than charting paths; insets show that the journal is “crowded with interesting observations” about both natural and human-made geography. After Dad meets up with the trio, Ruby heads to “her other house,” where she’ll map more of her “always interesting world.” With its reliance on an individual’s renderings, the book offers a lovely revelation: the best maps don’t just show where one is, but also how one relates and what one perceives. Resources conclude. Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 4–8. (Oct.)