Cover Reveal Q&A: A BOOK OF MAPS FOR YOU by Lourdes Heuer and Maxwell Eaton III

Today we get a first look at the cover for A Book of Maps for You, written by Lourdes Heuer and illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III. It arrives on April 8th, 2025.

But before we check out the cover, I had some questions for Lourdes and Maxwell . . .

Travis: Lourdes, what inspired A Book of Maps for You?

Lourdes Heuer: James Baldwin said, “every writer has only one story to tell,” and the story I’m telling over and over again is some version of how I moved across an ocean when I was 8. I’m giving away the ending here, but A BOOK OF MAPS is my attempt to turn leaving my home behind into a gift, in whatever small way that may be possible.

Travis: What was the most challenging part of making this book? What was the most rewarding?

Lourdes Heuer: The most challenging thing about writing this book was dropping breadcrumbs from spread to spread, but not giving the ending entirely away from the start. I wanted to try to do something like what Sydney Smith accomplishes with Small in the City.

My attempt is not nearly as elegant, but after years of working on this story, getting that last page turn just right was most satisfying.

Travis: Lourdes, what snack puts you in peak creativity mode?

Lourdes Heuer: When it comes to creativity and snacks, you’re likely to find me with printed pages in one hand and a hazelnut chocolate bar in the other, taking hearty bites in between pacing around the house, reading my work out loud, and running back to my desk to cross out most of it!

Travis: Maxwell, how did you approach the illustrations for A Book of Maps for You?

Maxwell Eaton III: This was a tricky one, because the bulk of the book is illustrated by its young narrator. So I needed to create illustrations that felt authentic but also enjoyable to view. Weren’t patronizing or insulting to young artists, and yet weren’t masterpieces of line work and perspective. Fortunately, my masterpiece risk is low, but it was still quite a needle to thread!

I decided the best approach was to pick a pace for the artwork. Once I started a spread I wouldn’t speed up, I wouldn’t slow down, and I wouldn’t jump around. And I only stopped once a page was filled. It felt like the way I drew before it was a job or even homework. I ended up doing one spread of line work each night for twenty or so consecutive nights without looking back at what I had already illustrated. This led to wonderful inconsistencies and continuity errors throughout, just like there would be for anyone sitting down to make a book for a friend. Doing their best but perhaps without giving too much thought to its permanence or significance. Just putting pen to paper.

Travis: How did you create the art?

Maxwell Eaton III: For the child’s illustrations, I used a fountain pen for the lines. A decidedly un-childlike instrument, but I loved the uniformity of the marks. And functionally, I removed the pen from the page as little as possible. The square of a building wasn’t four separate dashes but a continuous line. Constantly pausing, looking both ways, and then crossing the street in a new direction without concern for the cumulative impacts of each decision.

I brought the same immediacy to the coloring. I spilled colored pencils and watercolor pans across my desk and grabbed whatever was close at hand when needed. I’m terribly colorblind, which has been a struggle since I was a child, and fills me with dread as a working illustrator, but I tried to forget that I’d ever been told. It was incredibly liberating, though I’m sure the results are plain for some to see!

Travis: Final Question: What snack puts you in peak creativity mode?

Maxwell Eaton III: All of my book work happens at night, pacing around and around the first floor of my creaky old farmhouse eating dry Cheerios out of a metal camping bowl. It’s how I plan on haunting its future residents.

Travis: Thank you Lourdes and Maxwell for taking my questions!

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And now, for the first time, the cover of A Book of Maps for You, written by Lourdes Heuer, illustrated by Maxwell Eaton III, publishing on April 8, 2025 from Neal Porter Books (Holiday House). Creative Director: Jennifer Browne.

(Click to enlarge)

From the publisher:

Before moving away, a young cartographer leaves some guidance behind about his old home for the child about to make it their new one. A Book of Maps for You honors the homes we leave behind and the ones we haven’t met yet, reminding us that they may just be two sides of the same coin.

Lourdes Heuer’s achingly subtle text speaks volumes in all it pays attention to, and all it doesn’t have to say. Maxwell Eaton III’s signature detail-rich illustrations perfectly suggest the work of a talented child, and promise plenty of surprises to drink in and explore on each page.

Filed under: Cover Reveal