You Rule! A Practical Guide to Creating Your Own Kingdom

This playful, tongue-in-cheek guide to inventing and ruling one’s own country also weaves in information about nation-building and governance. Readers can select a location for their country (the backyard, online, on another planet, etc.), define its borders, name it, make decisions about national security, and determine how to rule. Slickly designed, graphic-heavy pages feature sidebars, charts, and photographs; real-life examples of individuals who have made up their own countries appear throughout (in 1979, 14-year-old Robert Ben Madison declared his bedroom the kingdom of Talossa, later attracting “citizens” through a website). With activities that include designing a flag, creating currency, and holding elections, the fun lies more in the creative process than in the destination. Ages 8–up. (Oct.)