Atlas with hand-drawn maps offers readers visual feast

Hanoi (VNA) – The Lao dong (Labour) Publishing House and the Nha Nam Culture and Communications JSC have unveiled the book “Maps” by Polish authors Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski.

The 108-page book, translated into Vietnamese by Quynh Chi, is 27x37cm and features 52 completely hand-drawn maps.

What is special about this best-selling atlas?

“Maps”, a giant picture book and the world’s best-selling atlas for all ages, consists of 52 maps vividly illustrating geographical features and political boundaries while introducing famous destinations, typical fauna and flora, people, cultural events and other fascinating information about each region and country.

The book, considered a ticket for readers of all ages to travel around the globe, has been published in more than 30 countries and has sold over 3 million copies, becoming one of the best-selling books of maps in the world.

A large, hardcover and luxurious appearance, “Maps” is printed on high-end offset paper, and is a worthy addition to any cartophily’s collection.


The book comprises six maps from continents and 42 national maps. Outstanding features of each region and country such as destinations, costumes, cuisine, and festivals are all shown via cute and fun drawings.

Each map provides basic information about the area, population and language of the country and continent it shows.

“Maps” offers both children and adults a visual feast and a considerable amount of knowledge, inspiring young readers’ curiosity and desire for exploration. It also helps parents become closer to their children through joint reading.

Vietnam’s sovereignty over Truong Sa, Hoang Sa

In this book, the Polish authors and editors draw a map of Vietnam in a highly vivid manner with illustrations of famous landscapes, animals, and traditional cultural identities.

More particularly, the hand-drawn map of Vietnam’s territory on pages 58 and 59 include clear images of Hoang Sa (Paracel) and Truong Sa (Spratly), affirming the country’s sovereignty over these two archipelagoes in the East Sea.


“Maps” have been published in more than 30 countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Iceland, India, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Madagascar, Morocco, Mexico, Mongolia, Namibia, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Peru, Poland, South Africa, Romania, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, the UK, and the US.

Book compiling process by the two young authors

It took Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski more than three years to create this “giant” book. After considerable research, they made a list of interesting information for children and selected the most fascinating details of each country.

Maps were drawn to scales based on published geographical maps. The young authors not only drew all details by hand but also designed text fonts in the book by themselves.

Their cute and colourful drawings have turned this book into an amazing picture encyclopedia and a best-selling geo-cultural atlas.

The book has earned its authors a number of big prizes, especially the Prix Sorcières of France and the Premio Andersen of Italy – two noble awards for works of children’s literature.

Aleksandra Mizielinska and Daniel Mizielinski graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw in 2007. In 2010, they were nominated for the Bologna Ragazzi Award and the IBBY Honour List, which are also in the sector of children’s publishing.

Their works have attracted not only children but also won the applause of adults.

“Maps” has been distributed nationwide and priced at 345,000 VND. Readers can also buy the book for 276,000 VND, including value-added tax, at Nha Nam bookstores. Each book is enclosed with one 55x81cm map of Vietnam./.