MY FIRST GEOGRAPHY BOOK

A child and their stuffed animals play a geography-focused imagination game.

In Okunev’s debut children’s book, translated by Kolmakov, our nameless narrator’s multitudinous stuffed animals find a world atlas and insist on international travel—but instead, their child proposes that they study the principles of geography indoors. Walls become mountains, the rug becomes a stadium, the kitchen becomes a farm, and the parents’ bedroom becomes the “financial center” of the country. Illustrators Kolmakov and Baron alternate gentle pencil-and-watercolor paintings in soft pastels with more cartoonish acrylic-on-canvas paintings in bright colors. In the style of Winnie-the-Pooh or Raggedy Ann, the protagonist’s benevolent commands and explanations are taken in good faith by the toys; this fantasy of authority may appeal to young readers interested in exerting agency. While each stuffed animal has a personality (Little Hedgehog is sensitive; Owl is wise), the huge array of toys—crocodile, raccoon, monkey, shark, penguin, lion, elephant, rhino, turtle—prevents readers from getting to know any characters well. The author, a geographer, wrote about his field for adults in his recent book Political Geography (2020). He brings that knowledge and passion to bear here; however, introductory ideas about geography's purpose may need a clearer, more child-friendly approach. A few maps of the apartment and the characters’ neighborhood rendered from a bird’s-eye view occur throughout, but there are no maps of real places or vocabulary terms that might help youngsters read their own atlases. Prompts between chapters are oriented toward creativity: “How is your kingdom organized? Where do your toys live and what do they do?”

An inventive, mild adventure for young storytellers and monarchs; for maps and information, look elsewhere.