Although hungry, the boy finds sustenance of a different sort in the multicolored map, which provides a literal spot of brightness in the otherwise spare, earth-toned illustrations, as well as a catalyst for soaring, pretend visits to exotic lands.

Its autobiographical dimension, however, will open up the audience to older grade-schoolers, with an endnote describing Shulevitz's life as a refugee in Turkestan after the Warsaw blitz, (in World War II) including his childhood sketch of the real map.

Whether enjoyed as a reflection of readers' own imaginative travels or used as a creative entree to classroom geography units, this simple, poignant offering will transport children as surely as the map it celebrates.

She continues to say, "In framing his own story, replacing autobiographical fact with archetypal forms, Shulevitz keeps the focus on the inner world that he has so consistently illuminated.

As described by Joanna Rudge Long, who reviewed this book in The Horn Magazine, "Shulevitz's skillfully composed, emotionally charged art, evocative scenes of the family leaving war-torn Europe on foot and traversing Asia's "dusty steppes," with its dour, angular villages, give way to the dreamlike splendor of the boy's escape into imagination."