Q&A with Dean Robbins

 

 

 

Dean Robbins is the author of the new children's picture book The Shape of Things: How Mapmakers Picture Our World. His other books include The Fastest Drummer. Also a journalist, he lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

 

Q: What inspired you to write The Shape of Things?

 

A: My earliest attempts to analyze a landscape came during long bike rides to a friend’s house in elementary school. I had to memorize all the geographical features along the way—hills, creeks, woods—to make it there and back without getting lost.

 

During college, I worked a summer job on a Mississippi River towboat, taking note of the trees, boulders, and bridges between New Orleans and St. Louis. Such experiences interested me in the ways that people make sense of the world by creating maps.

 

I hope The Shape of Things will spark a similar sense of wonder among young readers and inspire them to create their own maps, a skill that combines art and science.

 

Q: How did you research the book, and what did you learn that especially surprised you?

 

A: My initial idea was to write about famous American mapmakers, connecting their work with the democratic ideals of freedom and equality. But the more I read about the history of cartography and surveying, the bigger the concept grew in my imagination.

 

I became fascinated by the distinctive approach to mapmaking in different cultures: cave painting from ancient times, wood maps from ancient China, papyrus maps from ancient Egypt, Native American petroglyphs, Polynesian stick charts, and European globes. This millennia-hopping progression became the book’s story arc, culminating in today’s electronic maps.

Q: What do you think Matt Tavares’s illustrations add to the book?

 

A: In the text, I tried to capture the thrilling sweep of cartographic history while keeping the ideas simple enough for young readers to understand.

 

Matt’s illustrations take the same approach, with sublime results. He deftly uses perspective, line, and shading to create awe-inspiring panoramas. Children will identify with the people in these pictorial spaces as they try to wrap their minds around the vast world surrounding them.

 

Other images zoom in more closely on the human experience. Matt shows mapmakers at work, carving, drawing, painting, and programming. His melding of the intimate and the infinite makes The Shape of Things unique among nonfiction children’s picture books.

 

Q: The Booklist review of the book said, “Map lovers and readers interested in the development of knowledge and technology will be drawn to Robbins’ look at how we, over millennia, have documented Earth’s shape.” What do you think of that description, and what do you hope kids (and adults) take away from the book?

 

A: I like the use of “we” in Booklist’s description: “how we, over millennia, have documented Earth’s shape.” I hope both adults and children pick up on the idea that mapmaking has been a collective effort, with contributions by many cultures. In other words, I hope The Shape of Things has the effect of drawing people together in these divisive times.

 

Q: What are you working on now?

 

A: In January, Scholastic will publish You Are a Star, Martin Luther King, Jr., the next installment in my You Are a Star series of biographical picture books. It’s a new take on King’s story for young readers, featuring little-known anecdotes, humorous details, and gorgeous illustrations by Anastasia Magloire Williams. 

 

Q: Anything else we should know?

A: One thing we haven’t discussed about The Shape of Things is the back matter, which I hope is particularly engaging for young readers. It includes Matt’s lavishly illustrated mapmaking timeline; an introduction to surveying and cartography; a list of modern-day tools and techniques; and a description of the skills and subjects essential to a mapmaking career.

 

If the book spurs a new generation to learn more about the arts and sciences, I’ll consider it a success.

 

--Interview with Deborah Kalb. Here's a previous Q&A with Dean Robbins.