Margaret Kimball

The illustrator first started drawing maps while working on a graphic memoir because she wanted to give a bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood where she grew up. She quickly realized just how powerful maps— whether personal, imaginary or historical—can be. For “Life in the Big City” (p. 32), she combed through books and photographs of Petra to reconstruct the site in intricate detail. The ancient city, she says, feels like a “magical secret in the middle of the desert.”