Book Review of Ari’s Bathroom Map
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The Children’s Book Review
Ari’s Bathroom Map
Written by R. A. Thapa
Illustrated by Ira Baykovska
Ages: 5+ | 42 Pages
Publisher: Total Publishing and Media (2026) | ISBN: 978-1633023574
What to Expect: School Project, Crohn’s Disease, and bathroom accessibility.
Ari’s Bathroom Map is a warm, practical picture book about a boy who turns a school mapping assignment into a lifeline for kids with Crohn’s disease, charting every accessible bathroom in his neighborhood.
When Ari is assigned to map his neighborhood for class, he doesn’t sketch streets or parks—he documents something far more useful to him: every available bathroom. For a kid managing Crohn’s disease, knowing where to go (and how fast) isn’t a small thing, and Ari’s assignment becomes an act of quiet advocacy for himself and kids like him. Readers follow his neighborhood survey, not knowing exactly where it will lead, only that Ari is solving a problem few stories bother to acknowledge.
The writing handles a rarely-discussed topic with honesty and care, grounding an invisible illness in something concrete and relatable — a map. It avoids being preachy or clinical, instead letting Ari’s resourcefulness carry the story, which makes the subject matter accessible to readers who may know nothing about Crohn’s going in.
Ira Baykovska’s illustrations bring warmth and gentleness to a topic that could easily feel awkward, giving Ari’s world an inviting, lived-in quality that keeps the book feeling like a story first and an educational tool second.
Ari’s Bathroom Map is a one-of-a-kind book—useful, tender, and overdue. With a page of backmatter introducing Crohn’s disease to young readers, it’s an excellent pick for families managing chronic illness, classrooms building empathy, and any child who’s ever needed a story that finally sees them.
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About the Author
Rebecca A. Thapa is an author and a 6th-grade English/Language Arts and Social Studies teacher. Rebecca began her writing career as a journalist and rediscovered her love for children’s literature when she became a mother. Her picture books, Lights for Tihar and Presha’s Mountain, were inspired by her husband’s home country, Nepal.
For more information, visit www.rathapa.com.
About the Illustrator
Ira Baykovska is a children’s book illustrator and a mom of two beautiful girls. Ira has been drawing for as long as she can remember, and sometimes cannot believe that this hobby has become her lifelong career. She has been working as a freelance illustrator since 2014 and has illustrated more than 20 books for kids. Ira has a degree in Graphic Design and currently lives and works in Lviv, Ukraine.
For more information, visit www.baykovska.com.
Dedicated Reviews allow authors and illustrators to gain prompt visibility for their work. This is a sponsored*, non-biased review of Ari’s Bathroom Map. Learn more about getting a book review …
