MapMaker

In an ambitious fantasy from Moore Ramée (Something to Say), a Black seventh grader obsessed with maps navigates his family’s move from Los Angeles to Northern California. Walt’s former athlete father, an accountant for a video game company, wants Walt to “toughen up” and is set on sending him to football camp. It doesn’t help that Walt’s twin sister, Van, is taller than he is and wants to attend the camp herself. Walt—a creative soul like the twins’ costume designer mother—would rather spend time working on his map of Djaruba, the imaginary world he’s been drawing for years. Inspired by his Creole maternal grandmother’s stories, Djaruba is filled with volcanic activity, immense deserts, futuristic cities, and flying dragons. When Walt starts drawing on an online printout of the family’s new neighborhood, Blackbird Bay, creating an alternate history for the locale, it becomes clear that he has the ability to imagine real worlds—and that an evil mapmaker called Statica wants Walt to help him destroy them, instead. Exploring themes of gender norms and racism through a fantasy adventure with friendship elements, Moore Ramée offers a creative story of embracing one’s prowess. Ages 8–12. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Book Group. (Sept.)