The Map Challenge

.Cute, engaging story with tons of positive information about dyslexia. Well done graphics. Information for educators, parents and interested parties at the end.

Charming story that gives a lesson to young children that everyone has their own strength and weaknesses and we should not judge one another for being different. Very nicely illustrated.

An author who appears to know what she is about in the area of special needs education. Many of our children today still face a number of issues which can inhibit their learning.
Dyslexia is thankfully more recognised and help is available to progress issues around confidence and coping with text to build positive reading.
This book can be seen as inspirational, helpful and encouraging for parents and children alike.
The story builds on the negative and positive traits of Dyslexia that should create better learning outcomes and build self-esteem.
The story is about a camping trip where one of the scout group has Dyslexia. His short-comings and difficulties are transformed by things he finds are his strengths and abilities. Consequently it ends well.
This is a role-play scenario not a life changing event. There is no magical solution but with better understanding this book provides and talking about these issues will help any child and parent to grow together and celebrate the positives.

Sammy and his friends arrive at scout camp and are off on a flag hunt. Sammy is given the task of map reading. This makes him anxious as he can't read the map - the letters jump about and he doesn't know what to do. His friends laugh and correct him when he makes a mistake. Another team member takes over and the team find their flag. Suddenly, a gust of wind whips their map out of their hands and they are unable to find their way back to camp. That is until Sammy's memory kicks in and he follows the path back to camp based on visual things he noticed on the way to find the flag. They arrive back at camp safely and Sammy is the hero.

I really enjoyed the theme of this book. Sammy has dyslexia and can't read the map. Instead, he uses his visual memory to lead the camp back to safety. It is an educational fiction story with an important theme that many children will relate to. It is also important for children that don't have dyslexia as it provides awareness and indicates how they should approach a friend who may find it difficult to read.

The illustrations are brilliant and engaging, perfectly complimenting the words. They are colourful and catchy and keep the story flowing from one page to the next.

I really enjoyed the final few pages that include resources for parents and teachers. It encourages them to ask the children questions about the story, with plenty of discussion points to teach them about dyslexia and focus on what Sammy CAN do. There are also tips for boosting memory skills which are great ideas for parents and teachers to try with children of all abilities.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a free digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This illustrated short story is written with kids who have dyslexia in mind. The publisher notes that the font is one that is more easily read by kids who have dyslexia.

It is summer and time for camp. Sammy and his fellow campers are given the task of finding their group's red flag. Sammy, who has dyslexia, is assigned to read the map. This causes him understandable anxiety but he tries to trudge through. Of course, there are issues, the group gets lost and then, Sammy's highly tuned, visual memory helps to save the day!

This book may well appeal to children who face similar challenges. It also gently reminds other children to not tease and recognize everyone's skills. There is a helpful section for adults at the end of the book.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this e galley in exchange for my honest review.

I don't have any kids with dyslexia, but I am pretty sure my daughter has dysgraphia (since it isn't a recognized diagnosis in our school district, we haven't pursued it, but I am pretty sure she does) I thought this would be an interesting read. Whether my kids had special needs or not, I would find this book interesting and it is definitely something I would read to them to help them better understand their peers that struggle with dyslexia. It is always good to learn about challenges others might face to help be more accepting and understanding. I thought it was a cute book with beautiful illustrations. I know it's a children's book and the point was to illustrate some of the positives of dyslexia, but when a scout is lost they are supposed to blow their whistle not try to get back without a map so that part wasn't my favorite. I understand why they used a scout camping trip to illustrate their point but I don't want my scout trying to find her way back without a map. Overall, I thought this book was a great introduction to dyslexia for kids who don't have it and it may be of comfort to those who do.

I received an electronic ARC from Quarto Publishing Company through NetGalley.
Alloway offers some positive reinforcement for Dyslexic children. Her characters are on a camping trip and Sammy is assigned as the navigator for his team. He struggles to read the map and leads them the wrong way. Someone else takes over. This was a difficult moment but Alloway spins some positives by focusing on what Sammy is good at. In the end, he saves the day by leading them back to their campsite based on the visual memories he created.
Dyslexic friendly fonts.
Information provided at the end of the book - both memory exercises and discussion questions.

This is a short, colorful, useful, and educational young children's book to open up discussion about dyslexic children.

Sammy is off to scout camp, but their first game when they get there is to follow a map and discover the flag, safely returning with it to the scout camp! Sammy, who is dyslexic, is chosen to be the map reader and he can't do it! After accidentally sending them in the wrong direction a couple of times, someone takes over the map chore, and Sammy is left to observe everything along the way. When the map is lost later, he is able to navigate back home by using the visual cues he absorbed on the journey out.

The book takes a sweet and simple approach, laying out playful issues and problems, with nothing too overwhelming. The children show a positive attitude and do not mock Sammy, and everything turns out well in the end because of Sammy's excellent visual memory which enables him to use his own personal set of 'signposts' to get them safely home. In the back of the book are tips for both parents (presumably including guardians and older family members) and teachers on dyslexia-related problems, along with discussion points about the story, and even tips for boosting memory skills - and when I say the first one is for the birds - I don't mean it's a bad tip!

As this book points out (and at least one study has confirmed: Enhanced Recognition Memory after Incidental Encoding in Children with Developmental Dyslexia Hedenius M, Ullman MT, Alm P, Jennische M, Persson J (2013) PLoS ONE) dyslexic children tend to have better memory for recalling things they have seen than do non-dyslexic children. Tracy Packiam Alloway is a psychologist with a PhD-level education, and Ana Sanfelippo is a talented Argentinian artist with a degree in graphic design. I congratulate them and commend this book as a worthy read.

I thought this book would give more insight into how a child with dyslexia sees things, like showing examples of how the map looks through their eyes. I really didnt feel that the use of the map came into play much at all. Instead, Sammy uses his visual senses to guide his group back to camp using things he saw on the path instead of the map. My little ones listened to the story but didnt feel one way or another towards it. The author does know what she is taking about in terms of a dyslexic child but I dont feel it gave enough insight into the problem so that a child would understand. Not using a map and relying on visual senses is what alot of children (and adults) do, they are visual learners and can have nothing to do with being dyslexic but here I felt that the story set it up as children with dyslexia are very visual instead of that they see letters and numbers differently. I feel that this story may come off to a child that using visual learning skills is a disability. This is just my take on it and in no way meant to demean dyslexia or the writer. Overall it is a cute story nonetheless.

In the Map Challenge, Sammy and his fellow scouts complete a trek through the woods. Their adventure emphasizes the characters' different strengths. The illustrations were cute. I appreciate the diversity in the characters. The author included parent notes and solid discussion points. Thanks Quarto Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this title.

This is a bright and colorful book with nice illustrations. There are a group of kids going to camp and one group loses an important map then they work to find their way back to the campground. This is a book part of the SEN (Special Education Needs) Superpowers series. It helps build confidence as well as letting children understand or learn about such things as Dyslexia. The story overall is a good one and will be interesting to children. Some things in the story may lead to conversations for parents though, such as how you want them to safely handle themselves if they get lost. Also, I didn't see much of a map challenge or examples of Dyslexia that would help a child understand what it is. I thought I would see more of these elements in this story. I felt the actual story didn't teach about Dyslexia in a way a child would understand and relate to it or really approach the subject. I liked the book for the story though. The educational part was at the end when you get to the discussion points and other tips for parents and teachers. This is well done. You will learn it is more than having trouble with reading and every person is different. The book itself has dyslexic-friendly font as well making better in that regard, which is a wonderful approach. This book would be good for a family that has Dyslexia in the family or teachers and staff at schools to help explain or further explore Dyslexia with all students for understanding or everyone.

Sammy is asked to be the navigator at scout camp. He tries to read it but gets everyone near a snorting bull. After Tim complains, Daisy takes the map and off the group goes. Except for Sammy. He gets distracted by nature. Soon the group is searching for the flag that should be on the bridge. It is Sammy who discovers the flag on the side of the bridge peeking out of a bush. The map is suddenly whipped up by the wind and ends up in the river. Sammy is able to lead the group out based on the things he discovered while enjoying nature.

The muted illustrations are perfect to allow the reader to focus on the story. Good lessons abound about everyone having good qualities even if they are not good at other things, working together and not making fun of other people.


I received an ARC from Quarto Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily providing a review.

I liked this book. It explains Dyslexia really well. It's not dumbed down for kids and presents a very understandable example. Maybe it would be good for adults to read , too, if they live or work with dyslexic children. Illustrations were nicely done.
I located this book on my library shelf as I couldn't download a copy to my Kindle.

This book was enjoyed by multiple reading comprehension books at school. The kids loved answering questions and predicting what would happen next. This book was enjoyed by kids ages 4-11.