This book presents one hundred world maps drawn, painted, crayoned, sewn, and knitted by young cartographers and symbologists from around the world. This is an imaginative collection by young artists ranging in age from five to fifteen that reflects artistic, cultural, social, and cartographic awareness. In these drawings, young people express their hopes, wishes, and fears for their world. The images show young people’s enduring interest in maps and the excitement to be had from them.

The maps are some of the winners in the 10-year-old Barbara Petchenik Children's World Map Competition sponsored the the International Cartographic Association (ICA) as a memorial for Barbara Bartz Petchenik, a cartographer who studied how children comprehend maps. To date, thousands of children under 16 years old from fifty-two countries have been involved in this competition.

Many of the images are arresting and offer a wide variety of perspective; younger children's maps are often accompanied by comforting images of childhood, such as teddy bears or birthday cakes, while older children tend to show images of poverty, disease, and warfare. Despite this scattering of painful images, the maps express the worldwide hopes of children for opportunity, economic development, friendship, and international understanding.

For children, parents, and teachers, these drawings will inspire and delight.

Proceeds from the sale of this book will go toward graphic literacy promotions that target developing countries and disadvantaged learners.