‘The 50 States’: A Beautifully Illustrated, Fact-Filled Book of Maps

Do you like his­to­ry, illus­tra­tion, and maps? Well, then The 50 States was made for you! Writ­ten by Gabrielle Balkan and illus­trat­ed by Sol Linero, this over­sized (quar­to-sized) book fea­tures an impres­sive col­lec­tion of facts about every state in the Union.

Sol did a won­der­ful job of illus­trat­ing this book. After receiv­ing it from Quar­to Pub­lish­ing, I spent a long time look­ing through every page—all of the small, quirky illus­tra­tions make up an engag­ing whole. They keep your atten­tion with their bold, eye-catch­ing style. There’s also a dis­tressed tex­ture to the over­all pub­li­ca­tion, and it’s as if you’re look­ing at a well-loved guide­book that’s referred to over and over again.

Every state has its own spread. It shows the major cities, pop­u­lar indus­tries, famous folks (not just white guys—prominent women and minori­ties, too), key facts, and claims to fame. Did you know the Maine Coon is the offi­cial cat of Maine? Go figure.

And how about those hand let­ters?! They’re dif­fer­ent with each turn of the page.

Once you’ve read about the 50 States, there’s some bonus materials—the State Flags and pres­i­den­tial por­traits from George Wash­ing­ton to Bar­rack Obama.

With the hol­i­days rapid­ly approach­ing, I total­ly rec­om­mend The 50 States for the book lover on your list. It’s geared towards chil­dren but will delight adults, too. Pur­chase it here.