A Map of the Known World

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Author(s)

Lisa Ann Sandell

Publisher

Scholastic Press

Genre(s)

General Fiction

Age Range

12+

Release Date

April 15, 2009

ISBN

054506970X

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Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother, Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps, envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined. With stunning lyricism, Sandell weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love. They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

They say no land remains to be discovered, no continent is left unexplored. But the whole world is out there, waiting, just waiting for me. I want to do things-I want to walk the rain-soaked streets of London, and drink mint tea in Casablanca. I want to wander the wastelands of the Gobi desert and see a yak. I think my life's ambition is to see a yak. I want to bargain for trinkets in an Arab market in some distant, dusty land. There's so much. But, most of all, I want to do things that will mean something.

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5 reviews

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3.4

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Follow the Lead

August 20, 2009 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

3.0

Plot

3.0

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Reader reviewed by Yan

A Map of the Known World is an elusive book. I cannot seem to grasp the right words needed to form a complete thought. So let us start from the beginningmy expectations.

I was quite ecstatic that it was actually written as a novel rather than a verse poem. I wanted to see how Ms. Sandell would use her poetic method into paragraph forms. Will it still contain the lovely lyrical melody? Or would it fall flat like a sinking rock? There were some scenes where I can definitely see the melody she once had in the Song of the Sparrow. It came alive when she described the artworksvivid imagery and creative use of mediums. Many authors would have stuck to paint or graphite but she went out of the way and used organic materials as well as metalsmoss, fabrics, nuts and screws. But aside from that, the tone was strictly basic. But still good nonetheless.

I thought that Ms. Sandell captured the relationship with Nate and Cora well. It was through flashbacks that she presented Nate before the self-destructive persona came along. The caring brother and his road to anger came and went relatively quick. I think that if she spread it over the course of chapters then it would have had a greater effect. But it was still nice to find little hidden treasures of Nate everywhere.

Damien, however, was in and out. I felt like he was forced into the scene then forced out. The relationship between Cora and Damien was iffy and tremendously fast paced for me.

Speaking of Damien, in the book she mentions that his mother is black and his father is white. It seems to me that international backgrounds are becoming less scarce. Think about it, first there were Perfect Chemistry with Latinos, then North of Beautiful and the Chinese background, and now Damien with his mixed heritage. I think it is quite nice to find an expansion of this. Either that or the authors are writing about some fantasiesoh la la la&I am so off topic now. Moving on&

Overall: A Map of the Known World was a creative and fun outlet. Fans of Song of the Sparrow will be pleasantly surprised by this latest novel.

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A not so great book

July 08, 2009 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

2.0

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2.0

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Reader reviewed by Kristen

I really could not stand the narrator of this book. She went from weeping
to happy and helping others, to angry - well, she was just a mess, but
it all seemed so flat. Maybe it's just not my kind of book, but the
character grated on me.

The saving grace of the book was the involvement in art. I really did like
that aspect, the way she could connect to her dead brother through his
artwork and her own. I don't like how everything settled so quickly
towards the end. Her mom went from evil witch of the west to
understanding and kind. Sorry, just don't see it happening.

The writing was well done, but I just could not connect to the character at
all and it seemed a little false. Everything was extreme but not. It's
hard to describe. I don't dislike a lot of books, but this one really
was hard to get through for me. I feel bad writing bad things about a
book and I'm sure I'll still try to read some of her other novels, but
this one just didn't appeal to me.

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Stunning

May 16, 2009 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Pheonix

Cora Bradley dreams of escape. Ever since her reckless older brother,
Nate, died in a car crash, Cora has felt suffocated by her small town
and high school. She seeks solace in drawing beautiful maps,
envisioning herself in exotic locales. When Cora begins to fall for
Damian, the handsome, brooding boy who was in the car with Nate the
night he died, she uncovers her brother's secret artistic life and
realizes she had more in common with him than she ever imagined.

This book was stunning, I found myself crying and laughing while reading it. It was a beautiful book to read and it taught an important lesson in life. This book weaves a tale of one girl's journey through the redemptive powers of art, friendship, and love.

Guest

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A Beautiful Masterpiece of a Book

May 03, 2009 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

5.0

Plot

5.0

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Reader reviewed by Elise

Oh. My. Gosh. This book is soooooooo
good. The writing is superb, the characters are so real I feel like I
know them, the story is beautiful, touching, heartbreaking, and
heartwarming. I can't think of one bad thing about it. It's the first
book this good I've read in what seems like a long time. It's so
refreshing! Lisa Ann Sandell writes beautifully.
Every transition between events is an easy flow so that I NEVER wanted
to put this book down. Her uses of figurative language blows my mind
away. It is the first book that has ever brought tears to my eyes, yet
it also left me grinning like a fool in class while my substitute
played one of those boring documentary videos. I LOVED IT!

Guest

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Lyrical Prose Fails to Make Up for Predictable Trauma Story

April 04, 2009 (Updated: June 12, 2026)

Overall rating

2.0

Plot

2.0

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Reader reviewed by Steph Su

Being a high school freshman is
usually traumatic enough. For Cora Bradley, however, its worse than average:
she lives in the shadow of her older brother, Nate, a notorious misunderstood
troublemaker who killed himself when he drove into a tree. The Bradley
household, once a warm and friendly place, is now cold, silent, and
overbearing. So Cora throws herself into art, drawing elaborate maps of far-off
places in her futile attempt to escape the ghosts of her small town.

Cora must deal with normal teenage
girl troubles, too, though. As she and her ex-best friend drift apart, Cora
finds solace in the unlikeliest of places: in Damian, Nates best friend, who
was in the car with him that fatal night. Damian shows her things about Nate
that Cora never knew before, but her parents despise Damian and blame him for
their sons death. What will happen when all these different points of view
clash? Will Cora come out stronger in the long run?

After hearing amazing things about
Lisa Ann Sandells stunning writing, I was more than disappointed in A MAP OF
THE KNOWN WORLD. There is wonderful descriptive prose, yesthe kind that makes
you want to stop after every period and drink in the sentence youve just read,
the kind that makes you think, Wow. This is what writing is about.

Unfortunately, this lyrical
language is interspersed with really elementary dialogue and predicaments. Cora
may be a high school freshman, but high school freshmen do NOT need to sound so
whiny, shallow, explosive, and unreasonable. I hardly felt any connection to
the characters at all, and instead wanted to smack them on their heads for
being so one-dimensional. The story, too, is predictable; you hardly need to
read the book in order to know what the ending is.

All in all, A MAP OF THE KNOWN
WORLD an admirable attempt at lyrically dealing with the difficult subject of
death. However, the lack of connection I felt to the characters undermined the
attempt. Read it once to savor the occasional delicious line of prose, but not
to feel as if this is a world that you can believe in and empathize with.