A review by leslie_d
My Heart Is a Compass, by Deborah Marcero
5.0
“Rose longed to be an explorer, a pioneer, a trailblazer.” So when Rose* wants to find something completely new for show-and-tell, she sets off on an adventure by scooter, rocket, boat, train, and hot air balloon. Where she goes isn’t on any map anyone would find, because Rose draws the maps she is going to use: “Her imagination became the blueprint, with her heart a compass.”
Plot out time for this picture book–and have art supplies on hand if you are reading this with a young one. Rose’s maps are double-page spreads with all the whimsical details you’ll want to pore over. She draws a Road Map, then charts the Sky, then Ocean, before finally plotting Train Tracks—4 delectable maps. Notice how when she completes one journey empty-handed, she pulls out her paper and drawing utensil to draw the next leg of her adventure there on the spot, and how she has an object to inspire it (e.g. rocket, boat, train). She finds inspiration in her contexts: in her situation and the world about her. Her hearts draws her onward, and it will eventually draw her back home.
Her maps do not lead her to find anything to bring back to show or to tell—or so Rose thinks. But at the end of her tale, maps rolled up in her arms, her classmates are enthralled and congratulatory. Rose “had found something no one had ever seen or heard before.” And even better, her tale meant her classmates—and the reader—could experience the adventure as well. She becomes the explorer, pioneer, trailblazer she longed to be.
Rose inspires her teacher and classmates in the closing endpapers to draw their own maps…and you have to admire the variety in both the student body and their individual projects. One student is mapping at a micro-level, a cell; and I’m intrigued by where the “black hole” map will take them. I appreciate how this picture book ignores the false boundaries of the arts and sciences and leads with a heart for something new and unrestrained and an imagination to fuel its possibilities. Of course, looking at the opening endpapers, you can imagine where these students’ hearts are finding fuel for their imaginations. Rose’s book choice is clear.
Marcero’s My Heart is a Compass invites the reader into an entertaining and empowering adventure and leaves them with a healthy dose of creative energy.
Recommended for all the libraries (community, school, classroom, personal). I think girls will respond to seeing this heroine on the page; I appreciate, too, Rose’s skin tone and blue hair, as will many a young reader.
*compass rose?
https://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/compass-rose/
Plot out time for this picture book–and have art supplies on hand if you are reading this with a young one. Rose’s maps are double-page spreads with all the whimsical details you’ll want to pore over. She draws a Road Map, then charts the Sky, then Ocean, before finally plotting Train Tracks—4 delectable maps. Notice how when she completes one journey empty-handed, she pulls out her paper and drawing utensil to draw the next leg of her adventure there on the spot, and how she has an object to inspire it (e.g. rocket, boat, train). She finds inspiration in her contexts: in her situation and the world about her. Her hearts draws her onward, and it will eventually draw her back home.
Her maps do not lead her to find anything to bring back to show or to tell—or so Rose thinks. But at the end of her tale, maps rolled up in her arms, her classmates are enthralled and congratulatory. Rose “had found something no one had ever seen or heard before.” And even better, her tale meant her classmates—and the reader—could experience the adventure as well. She becomes the explorer, pioneer, trailblazer she longed to be.
Rose inspires her teacher and classmates in the closing endpapers to draw their own maps…and you have to admire the variety in both the student body and their individual projects. One student is mapping at a micro-level, a cell; and I’m intrigued by where the “black hole” map will take them. I appreciate how this picture book ignores the false boundaries of the arts and sciences and leads with a heart for something new and unrestrained and an imagination to fuel its possibilities. Of course, looking at the opening endpapers, you can imagine where these students’ hearts are finding fuel for their imaginations. Rose’s book choice is clear.
Marcero’s My Heart is a Compass invites the reader into an entertaining and empowering adventure and leaves them with a healthy dose of creative energy.
Recommended for all the libraries (community, school, classroom, personal). I think girls will respond to seeing this heroine on the page; I appreciate, too, Rose’s skin tone and blue hair, as will many a young reader.
*compass rose?
https://contemplatrix.wordpress.com/2018/11/29/compass-rose/