New York City has to be one of the greatest places in America, if not the world. Luckily for us, many authors have chronicled The Big Apple's antics in a way just right for kids.

Here are some of the books available. This is not yet a complete list, but I'm adding books to the list daily. If you wish to purchase any of these books, click on either the title or the book cover to be directed to Amazon.com. As a warning, I have put up pictures of the book covers to give you somewhat an idea of the style of each book (I know, I know. "Don't judge a book by its cover") so the pages may load slowly, depending on the speed of your internet connection.

The categories below are sorted by approximate age group and topical categories. Feel free to browse around. The same links are located on the left side of your screen. To return back to this page, simply click on the "Welcome" link on the left.

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Other Pages of Interest:
Fiction & Historical Fiction: General Books About New York City (Nonfiction) | Fiction NYC Picture Books and "Easy Reader" Stories (Ages 4-8) | Fiction NYC Books (Ages 9-12) | New York Fiction for Young Adults | New York Historical Fiction (Colonial Period and Revolutionary War) | New York Historical Fiction (Ellis Island & Immigration) | New York Historical Fiction (Life in the 1800s) | New York Historical Fiction (Life in the 1900s)

NYC History: New York Biographies | Native Americans from New York (History and Historical Fiction) | New York History (Colonial Period and Revolutionary War) | New York History (Immigration and Ellis Island) | New York History (The 1800s) | New York History (The 1900s) | The World Trade Center and September 11, 2001 |

NYC Locations: The Statue of Liberty | The Empire State Building | Central Park | NYC Art Museums (Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, etc.) | NYC's American Museum of Natural History | Harlem Books (Including books about the Harlem Renaissance) | Chinatown Books | Little Italy Books | The New York City Subway System | Brooklyn Books | The Bronx Books | Queens Books | Staten Island Books | Long Island Books | Upstate New York Books | New York State Books

Life and Travel in NYC: Thanksgiving in New York City | Christmas in New York City | New York Sports Teams and Players The NYC Fire Department (FDNY) and NY Police Department (NYPD) | General Books About Cities | New York City and New York State Test Preparation and Study Guides | New York Regents Review Books | Parenting in New York City | New York Travel Guides for Families with Children

NYC Toys, Puzzles, and Games (For Kids & Adults) | Amazon.com Coupon Codes

A Boy Named Charlie Brown By Charles M. Schulz	When Charlie Brown wins a spelling bee, he travels to New York City for the national finals. But will his Manhattan visit spell "D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R"? The answer is revealed in A Boy Named Charlie Brown, a reissue of the classic 1969 book based on the first full-length Peanuts motion picture. Since its first appearance in 1950, Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip has been enjoyed by generations of readers and become a celebrated part of American culture. Join the funny pages' most lovable loser- along with Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and the rest of the Peanuts gang- on his ambitious quest for the sweet but all-too elusive rewards of success. Description from Publisher
Eloise: A Book for Precocious Grown Ups By Kay Thompson	Eloise is a little girl who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York. She is not yet pretty but she is already a Person. Henry James would want to study her. Queen Victoria would recognize her as an Equal. The New York Jets would want to have her on their side. Lewis Carroll would love her (once he got over the initial shock). She knows everything about The Plaza. She is interested in people when they are not boring.She has Inner Resources.If you take her home with you, you will always be glad you did. Description from Publisher "I am Eloise/I am six." So begins the well-loved story of Eloise, the garrulous little girl who lives at New York's Plaza Hotel. Eyebrow raised defiantly, arm propped on one jutting hip, Eloise is a study in self-confidence. Eloise's personal mandate is "Getting bored is not allowed," so she fills her days to the brim with wild adventures and self-imposed responsibilities. An average Eloise afternoon includes braiding her pet turtle's ears, ordering "one roast-beef bone, one raisin and seven spoons" from room service, and devising innovative methods of torture for her guardians. Eloise's exploits are non-stop, and--accordingly--the text uses nary a period. Kay Thompson perfectly captures the way children speak: in endless sentences elongated with "and then ... and then ... and then... " Hilary Knight's drawings illustrate Eloise's braggadocio and amusement as well as the bewilderment of harassed hotel guests. Eloise's taunts are terrible, her imagination inimitable, her pace positively perilous. Her impertinence will delight readers of all ages. Description from Amazon.com The now classic tale of the little girl who makes merry mayhem from her digs on the top floor of New York's Plaza Hotel is reissued with an appended scrapbook, which includes a lengthy essay by Marie Brenner describing Eloise's impact on popular culture and Kay Thompson's life. It also includes an illustrated autobiography by Hilary Knight. Description from Horn Book
Eloise at Christmastime By Kay Thompson	Eloise has always had a rather festive air about her, but when Christmastime rolls around, well, it's "Fa la la la fa la la la lolly ting tingledy here and there," of course. The bunchy-bloused, spindly-legged scamp is speaking in rhyme this time, and in typical Eloise fashion, the verse simply can't be perfectly metered, for what would be the point? She rushes around New York's Plaza Hotel on Christmas Eve, jingling, spreading Christmas cheer, tying tassels on the thermostats, and writing "Merry Christmas" on all the walls. And of course there are gifts to be delivered and wrapped: For Weenie a roastbeef bone deluxe For Skipperdee raisin milk I'm giving the valet a beehive of course made of safety pins and silk Her asides, printed in red, are as priceless as ever: "Sometimes there is so much to do that/ I get sort of a headache around the sides and partially under it." Or in a rare vulnerable moment, "For when you are a child of six/ it's difficult to know/ if you deserve a present or not/ at Christmastime/ or so." But enough of that. "We sang Noel for 506/ Silent Night for 507/ We didn't sing for 509/ at the request of 511." Hilary Knight's pen and ink pink-and-black illustrations are perfect--particularly of the "sugar plums" dancing in Eloise's head on Christmas Eve, complete with crazed elves, Nanny-as-angel, reindeer with glasses, and of course Santa's sleigh with one giant package in it... for Eloise. Kay Thompson's Eloise at Christmastime, first published in 1958 with a different cover, joins Eloise in Paris and The Absolutely Essential Eloise (with additional historical scrapbook) as a much welcomed reissue of the original. And there's always just Eloise. Description from Amazon.com
Eloise Takes a Bawth By Kay Thompson	Forty years in the making, it's here at lawst. B Eloise must take a bawth, for Mr. Salomone is coming for tea. She protests and prolongs, but into the bawth she goes. Once there, she has some marvelous fantasies (pourquoi pas?), all of which seem to necessitate an overabundance of lovely bubbly bawth water. As Mr. Salomone frets and fumes about the sudden flooding of floor after floor, Eloise scrubs and splawshes unawares. Just as The Plaza Hotel is about to drown in its own bubbles, Eloise saves the day, clean as a whistle (and dry as brut Champagne). Eloise Takes a Bawth has eighty pages, gatefolds, and a full-color surprise. Description from Publisher What's this--a new Eloise, never before seen or published? News doesn't get better than that. Kay Thompson first wrote Eloise Takes a Bawth in Italy in the 1960s with Hilary Knight and pal Mart Crowley; it has been marinating until now for a release with all-new drawings by Hilary Knight. Of course, this time Eloise is not in Moscow, not in Paris, she is simply in the bawth at home in the Plaza Hotel. With Eloise, though, nothing is simple. Perhaps especially the notion of taking a bath, where you have to "skibble into the bathroom and take off all your clothes," then strike a pose and look in the mirror, and splawsh, and sing, and bathe with turtle Skipperdee and dog Weenie. And pretend to be the "loosest cannonball in all the Caribbean" and "Little Miss Mermaid but let's keep that between us." But what's this? Could Eloise's bathtime shenanigans be causing a drip that "has begun to drop within the walls and hallowed halls of the stately old Plaza?" Drenching the elite at the Venetian Masked Ball in the Grawnd Ballroom, no less? Fabulously decadent scenes of Eloise enacting wild battles and undersea dives in the bathtub on the "tip top floor" of the Plaza contrast deliciously with the resulting swampy splendor of the ballroom. Extended fold-out cross-sections of the hotel's plumbing system and a spectacular, colorful, double gatefold illustrating the underwater ball ("the sensation of the social season" thanks to Eloise!) add drama and silliness as well. A splawsh indeed! Description from Amazon.com Ever-irrepressible Eloise absolutely loves taking a bawth, and her devotees will absolutely love seeing her "splawsh, splawsh, splawsh" her way through a delightfully disastrous-yet ultimately propitious-time in the tub. "You have to be absolutely careful when you take a bawth in a hotel," announces the famous Plaza-dweller, who ignores her own advice and turns on all of the faucets ("Let that water gush out and slush out into that sweet old tub tub tub and fill it up to the absolutely top of its brim so that it can slip over its rim onto the floor if it wants to"). A judicious use of blue on Knight's trademark pen-and-inks traces the flow of water as it seeps from the penthouse through the floors of the Plaza Hotel into the grand ballroom, where workers feverishly prepare for the Venetian Masked Ball. Featuring two gatefold spreads, Knight's drolly detailed pictures depict the hotel's startled guests and employees as water gushes from such unexpected sources as elevator buttons and chandeliers. Oblivious Eloise, meanwhile, blissfully imagines herself driving a speedboat full throttle, water skiing and battling pirates in the Caribbean. A postscript (cleverly presented as a message in a bottle) explains that Thompson and Knight collaborated on this book 40 years ago, and it has been brought to light with the help of playwright Crowley. Since the buoyant art and humorously bubbly text surely rise to the level of its precursors, it's high time this book appeared, "for Lord's sake," as Eloise herself might say. Description from Publishers Weekly Proving herself once again more Force than Child, Eloise wreaks watery havoc upon the Plaza Hotel in an episode announced nearly 40 years ago but never published. Has it been worth the wait? "For Lord's sake," need you ask? After Nanny imprudently tells her to draw her own bawth, Eloise immediately locks the door and embarks on an all-taps-full-on adventure that takes her from ocean's bottom to a battle with Caribbean pirates-and sends water pouring between floors to gush from every fixture, threatening to wash out the Grawnd Ballroom's Venetian Masked Ball. Working from his original sketches, Knight creates splawshy close-ups of the self-absorbed six-year-old bounding balletically about a variety of imagined settings, interspersed with cutaway views of lower floors peopled by soggy guests and panicked hotel staff. The pages are so brilliantly conceived that readers will need to share bawth after bawth just finding the jokes and noticing something new with each soak. When Mr. Salomone, the manager, invites Eloise to tour the destruction, a mahvelous double gatefold opens to reveal-a whirl of floating gondolas, extravagantly costumed performers, and delighted (or at least urbane) guests. Thanks to Eloise, the Ball is the social season's high-water mark. And she knows just what to do about the five-million-dollar repair bill, too: "I'd absolutely charge it." Here's the extraordinary extrovert at her very grawndest (and most destructive); rare is the reader who won't be up for repeat dives into her upper-crust, never-humdrum world. Description from Kirkus Reviews
The Absolutely Essential Eloise By Kay Thompson	Maurice Sendak calls Eloise a "brazen, loose-limbed little monster." Pulitzer Prize winner Anna Quindlen finds her pathetic and lonely. Eloise gave Vanity Fair writer Marie Brenner "permission to rebel." Anyone who has been introduced to the eccentric 6-year-old who spends her days at large in New York's Plaza Hotel pouring water down the mail chute and managing her self-imposed responsibilities is fascinated, fascinated, fascinated. She is the only girl we know who feeds her turtle raisins and braids his ears, wears Kleenex boxes on her head (they make very good hats), and gets away with everything. Even if you have seven copies of the original Eloise, you may want to add The Absolutely Essential Eloise to your collection. In addition to the full splendor of the original 65-page Eloise story, this special edition includes an 18-page scrapbook, written by Marie Brenner, with "photographs of Miss Kay Thompson when she was young and fabulous and rawther like Eloise" and never-before-seen photographs, memorabilia, and sketches and stories from illustrator Hilary Knight. Anyone who adores Eloise and is intrigued by her talented creators should have this book within easy reach. Description from Amazon.com
Eloise: The Ultimate Edition By Kay Thompson	Frankly, one can never have too much Eloise. For all those who love love love the irrepressible 6-year-old resident of New York City's haughty Plaza Hotel, and shining star of Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's classic Eloise, the ultimate joy is to see four favorite titles collected in one enormous volume: Eloise: The Ultimate Edition. Sit back and watch as our heroine braids Skipperdee the turtle's ears, brushes her teeth with pear lemonade in Moscow, absolutely goes wild in Paris, and jingles around her lobby at Christmastime, tying tassels on the thermostat. This edition, with a lovely new dust jacket by Hilary Knight, includes our absolutely darling little sweetnik in Eloise in Moscow, the fantastique Eloise in Paris, the rawther festive Eloise at Christmastime, and the splendid scrapbook of memorabilia, photos, and drawings, The Absolutely Essential Eloise. It's all absolutely essential, if you ask us. Description from Amazon.com
Madlenka By Peter Sis	Madlenka lives in New York City, and a trip around her block is like a trip around the world. Everyone knows the friendly little girl -- from the French baker and the Indian news vendor to the Italian ice-cream man and the Asian shopkeeper. When Madlenka has some good news to share, she visits all her multicultural neighbors -- and they shower her with treats and kind words. With Madlenka, two-time Caldecott Honor-winning author Peter Sis delivers an exquisite tale featuring see-through windows and stunningly detailed illustrations -- a book that allows readers to peek into Madlenka's magical world and celebrate the wonders of different people and different places. Description from Publisher Incorporating many of the visually astonishing methods of Tibet Through the Red Box, Sis chronicles the adventures of a New York City girl (based on Sis's own daughter) whose loose tooth occasions a one-of-a-kind round-the-world tour. S s reels readers into Madlenka's neighborhood using meticulous cross-hatch drawings with a pale blue-gray wash: a distant view of the earth, then a continent, then an island--all with tiny red dots--lead up to the title page, which zeroes in on Madlenka's building on her block on Manhattan's Lower East Side. At last, the red dot becomes distinguishable as Madlenka's blouse as she stands in the window on the fourth floor. Discovering her tooth loose, the girl runs down the three flights of stairs to spread the news. The moment Madlenka makes her announcement, "Hey, everyone my tooth is loose!" her block breaks out of its box-like shape and transforms into a round carousel bursting with color. Here Sis sets the rhythm for the balance of the book. Madlenka's first stop is the French bakery. A silhouette image of the heroine appears at the left of the spread, as she calls out to the baker, "Hello, Mr. Gaston. My tooth is loose!" Sis frames her image with a scaled-down version of the city block and a border that highlights the bakery's yields. On the right-hand side of the spread, Mr. Gaston enters his p tisserie carrying baguettes ("Bonjour, Madeleine. Let's celebrate"); through a die-cut view of a tapestry in his shop window, readers see the Eiffel Tower flying the French flag. A turn of the page reveals a spread of the Eiffel Tower surrounded by not only Notre Dame and the Arc de Triomphe, but also Bemelmans's Madeline and Saint-Exupry's Little Prince. Her visit to Mr. Singh's newsstand ("Sathsariakal, Madela") offers a glimpse of India; a stop at Mr. Ciao's ice cream truck ("Buon giorno, Maddalena"), a taste of Italy. Each of her visits sparks similar exchanges and other distant destinations, but thanks to Sis's careful buildup, the shops and their keepers retain a cozy proximity. As he did with Tibet Through the Red Box, S s takes readers to exotic lands, yet continues to bring them back to the comfort of what they know. In Tibet, it was the father's study; here, it is Madlenka's block. When Madlenka returns home and tells her parents that she "went all around the world," readers will feel that they, too, have been armchair travelers, delivered safely home in S s's capable hands. Description from Publishers Weekly "In the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city, on a block, in a house, in a window, in the rain, a little girl named Madlenka finds out her tooth wiggles. She has to tell everyone." So begins Sis' latest book, and on the following pages, Madlenka delivers her news "around the world" as she circles her block and celebrates with the international shopkeepers in visually stunning spreads rendered in Sis' signature drawings of detailed fantasy. A full-page image of each merchant and his storefront faces an aerial view of Madlenka, surrounded by the concentric borders. First are her block's stores (with each new shop colored in as it's introduced). Also present are small, culturally signifying cartoons that in some instances seem Eurocentric and stereotypical: the images for Mr. Ciao, from Italy, for example, are Pisa, pizza, and spaghetti; the drawings for Eduardo, seemingly representative of the entire continent of Latin America, show generalized categories--mountains, rivers, and people, including a figure in headdress and loincloth. The real magic comes in the cleverly cut-away windows in each storefront through which children glimpse complex, global dreamscapes. Madlenka journeys through these mystical places, too, and it is these surreal, wordless stories-within-the-story that will excite a wide range of children, launching them in their own imagined departures. Description from Booklist
Madlenka's Dog By Peter Sis	Precocious little Madlenka is off again, around the world and back through time, without ever straying a block from her Manhattan home. This time, Madlenka wants a dog so badly that she gets her wish--or does she? None of her neighbors can seem to agree on just what sort of dog she's walking. (Never mind that Madlenka's red leash doesn't seem to be holding any sort of dog at all.) We're once again on a trip through Madlenka's imagination, inspired by the fond canine remembrances of her neighbors and gently illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Peter Sís. "'Look, everyone. I'm walking my dog.' 'Oh, he's white and short,' says Mr. McGregor. 'No, he's big and woolly,' says Mr. Eduardo. Each sidewalk acquaintance shares their memories of dogs past with clever little flaps. A flip-up drum (McGregor plays for the FDNY Pipes and Drums) shows wee McGregor with his West Highland white terrier; Eduardo's bicycle produce cart pops open to a reveal a scene from the Andes, with Eduardito dwarfed by a towering Newfoundland. Despite the very simple text, Madlenka's wild imaginings should hold up to enthusiastic rereading, especially as she travels into the fantastic past with her friend Cleopatra (who, as it happens, has an imaginary horse). But that's not surprising, given the involving nature of Madlenka's previous journey, the last time that Sís skillfully showed us the happy and peculiar place of a little girl "in the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city, in a house on a block where"--at least this time around--"everyone is walking a dog." Description from Amazon.com The urban child introduced in Madlenka takes another stroll around her multicultural block, this time accompanied by an imaginary but convincingly present dog. After introducing her new pet to Mr. Gaston the baker, Michiko the painter, and other adult friends, each of whom sees it as a different breed, Madlenka joins her friend Cleopatra, and her invisible horse, for a series of wordless adventures in polar snows, ancient Egyptian sands, and various locales between. Sís adds artfully placed die-cut holes and shaped flaps within his richly ornamented scenes, making this a book designer's dream as well as a time- and world-spanning sojourn full of visual surprises and pleasures. And when Madlenka is finally called home, she arrives trailed by more than two dozen very visible canine companions. The human and canine cast both are identified on the final page of this fantastical, brilliantly imagined outing. Description from Kirkus Reviews
The House on East Eighty-Eighth Street By Bernard Waber	The first book in the Lyle series, this tells the story of how the Primms found Lyle the crocodile in the bathtub of their new home. Description From Publisher
Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile By Bernard Waber	Lyle the crocodile lives in a house on East 88th Street in New York City. He likes it there, and his hosts, the Primms, like having him around--he helps young Joshua with his homework, jumps-rope with the neighborhood kids, and browses through antique shops with Mrs. Primm. Much to the affable reptile's dismay, however, he makes his neighbor's cat Loretta crazy, which in turn makes Mr. Grumps, Loretta's owner, even crazier. One day, Mrs. Primm and Lyle are shopping, when Lyle--through no real fault of his own--ends up infuriating department-store bigwig Mr. Grumps who turns red and blue and purple with rage. This unfortunate eruption lands the rollicking reptile in the Central Park zoo where Lyle fights back his crocodile tears. In an elaborate sequence of events, Lyle finds himself back with the Primms on East 88th Street, a neighborhood hero, and, startlingly, even a friend of the mistrustful cat Loretta. Bernard Waber--creator of The House on East 88th Street--charms young readers again with this endearing, whimsical 1965 classic, perfectly complemented by his simple, sketchy, comical illustrations. Description from Amazon.com This story is one of my kids' favorites. I'll admit, the first time I picked it up, I was a bit suspicious at the book's heft (48 pages for a tired parent at bedtime when it's the third book to read...well, you'll probably understand). However, once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. The kids roared with laughter at the text, and the illustrations were things of beauty in and of themselves (you are able to read Lyle's palette of emotions with each new picture). Lyle is the well-loved crocodile on 88th Street, but Mr. Gumps and Loretta, the cat, do NOT cotton to him at all. In fact, without even trying, Lyle sends Loretta into fits. On one tragic day, Lyle goes shopping downtown in Mr. Gumps' store, and causes a ruckus (by singing and dancing with his former owner, who happens to work at the store as well); the shoppers are happily sidtracted from the pajama sale, and Mr. Gumps alerts the police. Lyle is quickly transported to the zoo, while his former owner is fired from his job at the store. Lyle is despondent over the fact that he is to be relegated to live with the other crocodiles; he tries to warm up to them, but they are so...well, crocodilic. He's soon set free by his former owner (who had then taken a job as a zoo custodian), and on his way back to 88th Street, sees that mean Mr. Gumps' apartment is on fire. Lyle rushes in, rescues Gumps and Loretta, and is proclaimed the hero of the day. Great book; pick it up and read it to your kids today! Description from Amazon.com Customer Review
It's a Dog's New York By Susan L. Roth	Boys and girls will love this innovative picture book about a dog who has just moved to New York City. Pepper feels sad in his strange new home until his new neighbor Rover (pronounced “Rova”) cheers him up with a fantasy tour of the sights. On this special tour, Pepper and Rover swim in the fountain in front of the Metropolitan Museum, chase pigeons on the roof of the Empire State Building, and share all kinds of imaginary fun. By the end of the book, when the dogs set out on a real tour with their owners, Pepper has begun to feel at home and is ready to take on the town! Susan Roth’s imaginative collage illustrations and Rover’s authentic New York accent whimsically evoke the fabric of New York City life. Description from Publisher
It's Still a Dogs New York: A Book of Healing By Susan L. Roth	In this parable of childhood bereavement, Pepper and Rover, two New York dogs, are miserable after the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Pepper feels overwhelmed with sadness and fear and anger. But in a tour of New York City, his friend Rover shows him that even though they’re sad, they can go on. Pepper learns that helping others, expressing his feelings, celebrating the bravery of rescue workers, and allowing himself to enjoy life can lead to healing; that the pair are not underdogs, but top dogs; that Americans are strong enough to survive and thrive, that It’s Still a Dog’s New York. Description from Publisher
Where Are You, Little Zack? By Judith Ross Enderle & Stephanie Gordon Tessler	Three ducks search for their brother, Zack, through familiar New York City sites and are joined by four frantic commuters, five taxi drivers, and even 80,000 baseball fans. Busy, humorous ink and watercolor illustrations add other counting activities and show that Zack is never far away. Description from Horn Book Join the duck brothersBrick, Brack, Thackery, and Little Zack Quackon their adventure in New York City. This rhythmic counting book has a dilemma to solve as the three brothers make their way through the city on their quest to find their youngest sibling, who was lost in the hubbub of Grand Central Station. As they search, the ducks pick up "4 frantic commuters, 5 friendly taxi drivers, 6 smiling tour guides...." They look high (the top of the Statue of Liberty) and low (the subway) for Little Zack. Sometimes the most obvious answer can be the hardest to findas demonstrated by the surprise ending. This book is filled with numbers and signs and can be used to increase readers' observation skills. The illustrations are in ink and watercolor and are reproduced in full-color in this delightful picture book that anyone who has ever missed a child or animal can appreciate. This book would be good for small group participation. Description from School Library Journal Floca's sprightly ink and watercolor art is the most innovative feature of a caper that meshes elements of counting, cumulative and search-and-find stories. After taking "the number 1 train on track number 2" to Grand Central Station, three country mallards realize that their youngest brother is missing. Accompanied by a growing entourage ("4 frantic commuters, 5 friendly taxi drivers," etc.), the trio takes a whirlwind tour of New York City searching for their elusive sibling, whom youngsters can spot-usually with little effort-on just about every spread: in each appearance he's pursuing a different fish. Giving a welcome, quirky twist to the story's counting component, the authors finally have 80,000 fans from a baseball game join the ducks' search party (too bad that Yankee Stadium seats only about 58,000). Floca provides a fun introduction to New York City landmarks with his busy, highly populated full-spread cartoons, and all will giggle at his comical images chronicling the mischievous antics of this web-footed brood: Zack pops out from a snack bar cooler and startles passersby by peering out of a manhole cover; one of his brothers perches on an art gallery display case, boldly imitating the stance of a Degas-like sculpture of a dancer. Readers can count on a ducky little escapade. Description from Publishers Weekly
Hey, Al By Arthur Yorinks	Awards: 1987 Caldecott Medal The plot of this book, for 4-year-olds and up, involves the travails of Al, a janitor who lives in a dingy apartment on Manhattan's West Side with his dog Eddie. One day, a funny-looking bird sticks its huge head through Al's bathroom window and proposes a journey to a terrific place where there are "no worries" and "no cares." Al agrees and takes Eddie with him. What the two experience is paradise--butterflies, wildflowers, chirping birds and cool streams--but it soon gives way to the uncertainties of being away from home, and a moral: that home is where the heart is. This sharp, wry and tender story, which won the 1987 Caldecott Medal, marks Yorinks' and Egielski's fourth highly praised collaborative work. Description from Amazon.com The theme here is, ``be happy with who you are,'' or maybe, ``there's no free lunch.'' Al, a janitor, lives a meager existence with his companion (dog) Eddie in New York City. They complain to each other about their lot and are ready to take off to a better place with a huge bird who just pops in and invites them. This ``island in the sky'' is perfect. All its inhabitants are friendly birds, and there's nothing to do but enjoy the tropical paradise. But when they both begin to sprout feathers and beaks, they realize that there is a price to pay, so they take off, Icarus-styleincluding a plunge into New York Harbor. Safely home, they discover that ``Paradise lost is sometimes Heaven found.'' Egielski's solid naturalism provides just the visual foil needed to establish the surreal character of this fantasy. The muted earth tones of the one-room flat contrast symbolically with the bright hues of the birds' plumage and the foliage of the floating paradise. The anatomical appropriateness of Al and Eddie plays neatly against the flamboyant depiction of the plants. Text and pictures work together to challenge readers' concept of reality, with touches such as the stacks of delivered newspapers outside Al's door when he returns fromhis ``dream'' Description from School Library Journal Playfully written in the sharpie cadences of New-York-City-ese, and illustrated with rich and loving attention to every detail, Hey, Al is a perfect melding of words and pictures, fantasy and reality, tenderness and humor. Description from The New York Times Book Review
Barbie : Beautiful Ballerina	Barbie is kept on her toes as she goes from a ballet audition to a whirlwind trip to New York City where she dances in Swan Lake. The book includes a cut-out tiara on the back cover for Barbie fans and their dolls. Description from Publisher
Busybody Nora By Johanna Hurwitz	Ebullient, friendly, six-year-old Nora loses no opportunity to become acquainted with the two hundred dwellers in her New York City apartment house. This cheerful slice of urban life has been newly illustrated with Lillian Hoban's cozy drawings. Description from Horn Book "What is your name?" That's what Nora asks her neighbors as she rides up and down the elevator of her apartment house. She doesn't mean to be a busybody. She just wants to be like doorman Henry and know all the people in her building--all 200 of them! And then one day Nora gets a great idea: they'll have a giant party, for everyone in the building! Description from Publisher In this early chapter book, six-year-old Nora and younger brother Teddy have adventures in their New York apartment building. She is eager to learn everyone's name in the building and begins asking, "What is your name?" every time she rides the elevator. Thus, the title of the book. Other episodes include making stone soup with neighbors' contributions, a mix-up that results in Nora serving as a babysitter for a day and a delightful story that grandpa tells about his role in the Jack and the Beanstalk tale. Nora's wish to have a giant party with all the residents of the apartment building occurs in the final episode, when they attempt to persuade Mrs. Wurmbrand's daughter from Ohio that New York City is a friendly place to live. Nora's pluck and the six family stories make for an appealing read. The black-and-white drawings are lively and support the text. As one of the books in the Riverside Kidsseries, it delivers simple but satisfying stories for the developing reader in the early primary grades. Description from Children's Literature
New Neighbors for Nora By Johanna Hurwitz	Nora loves making new friends--but there aren't many kids to play with in her New York apartment building.Apart from her little brother, Teddy, there's only four-year-old Russell.The three of them have lots of fun--but what would happen if there were more kids around? More fun, whats that! Description from Publisher Young readers who are already familiar with Nora and the Riverside kids will enjoy their latest adventures in this new chapter book. Nora loves being the oldest child in her apartment building. She and her brother and their friend Russell are eagerly awaiting the birth of Russell's sister. Nora is happy to find out she will finally have a girl to play with. When the baby arrives, Nora soon realizes that she will have a long wait for someone to play with. Then the moving van shows up outside the apartment and Nora once again begins to dream about a girlfriend to play with. Her dream comes true, or seems to, when she sees the movers unload boxes of toys. The new neighbors tell Nora they would be happy for her to meet Jean. Nora is so excited, until she finds out Jean is a Gene. To make matters worse, Nora is no longer the oldest child in the building. Readers will sympathize with Nora while she struggles to come to terms with her new neighbor. They will discover as Nora does, that problems usually work themselves out with time and a little humor. Description from Children's Literature
Nora and Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business By Johanna Hurwitz	Mind-Your-Own-Business...or else! Nora has made friends with all the people in her building--almost. Cranky Mrs. Ellsworth, whom Nora has nicknamed Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business, just won't be friendly. Then one day Mommy needs a baby-sitter for Nora and Teddy. No one can take the job...except Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business! Teddy is scared, but Nora is curious. Will Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business become their friend at last? Description from Publisher Nora and her brother Teddy live in an apartment building in New York City. Nora has met and made friends with everyone in the building, except for Mrs. Ellsworth, whom Nora calls Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business. This short chapter book begins with giant holes being dug in the sidewalk for trees to be planted in front of the building where Nora lives. Nora and Teddy decide that it will be like living in a forest. Nora and Teddy have many adventures, which include living through a blackout, going trick-or-treating, and the creation of a new "room" for Nora from a used refrigerator box. But perhaps the biggest adventure that Nora and Teddy face is the night that Mrs. Mind-Your-Own-Business comes to baby-sit. The children in this book are adorable, but are depicted as real children, including temper tantrums and pleading with parents to get their way. Each adventure teaches children a lesson, whether the lesson is about understanding others, or sharing. Descripiton from Children's Literature
A Tisket, a Tasket By Ella Fitzgerald	A-tisket, a-tasket, a green-and-yellow basket . . . a little girlie picked it up and took it to the market! Everyone knows these lyrics. But Ora Eitan's wonderfully spirited art truly bring Ella Fitzgerald's adaptation of the nursery rhyme to life-bright cut-paper images seem to jump off the page. Was it red? No, no, no, no. Was it brown? No, no, no, no. . . . And if that girlie don't return it, I don't know what I will do. This is sassy, sweet, pure springtime fun. Description from Publisher Silkscreen-style images of New York City, picturing "soul food" signs and downtown icons like the Brooklyn Bridge, illustrate this rendition of Ella Fitzgerald's 1938 song. A boy in a blue baseball cap acts out the jazzy nonsense lyrics about "A-tisket, a-tasket, a green-and-yellow basket,/ I wrote a letter to my mommy,/ on the way I dropped it." As the boy looks for the wicker tote, an impish "little girlie" in pigtails grabs it and runs off, passing a street-corner fruit vendor and making for the park: "She was truckin' on down the avenue/ without a single thing to do." The boy throws a tantrum, but no one has seen his missing item. At last, with the Washington Square arch in the background, the girl gives the boy a flirty glance as her dog returns the basket. Description from Publishers Weekly
My New York By Kathy Jakobsen	A tour of "my favorite places," described in a letter from Becky to a friend who's moving to New York from the Midwest. The child's-eye view suggests a good balance of topics--a flea market and the subway, as well as Manhattan's familiar attractions. Folk-artist Jakobsen fills her precise illustrations with details to explore, employing different points of view to good advantage: the Empire State Building in perspective from the street (sideways on a foldout page) plus a panorama from its top on the verso; elevated views of the N.Y.C. Marathon and Chinatown. A vertical foldout accommodates the Natural History Museum's remarkably tall, slender barosaurus. The illustrations are busy but nicely orchestrated, with bright, attractively stylized forms and figures mingling on every spread, plus Becky--in the same attire regardless of season--to be discovered on each. Other pictorial visits to New York include Munro's Inside-Outside book; this one is distinguished by its wealth of cheerful, authentic detail and pleasingly decorative style. Endpaper map. Description from Kirkus Reviews From the South Street Seaport to the Museum of Natural History, Jacobsen presents New York City, capturing all its incredible energy. She frames the text in a letter from a young New Yorker writing to a friend. The boy will be visiting soon, and the narrator describes the many sights he'll see, not all of them regular tourist stops. The book really covers a wide age range. Primary-graders will enjoy looking at pictures, and older kids doing reports on the city should get a real feel for it through Jacobsen's art. Description from Publisher A gifted folk artist, Jakobsen (illustrator of Reeve Lindbergh's Johnny Appleseed) here conducts a thoroughly enjoyable and informative excursion through Manhattan. Her fastidiously detailed oil paintings illustrate a chatty letter written by a girl named Becky to a friend who will soon be moving from the Midwest to New York. Becky's tour of the Big Apple includes visits to the Central Park Zoo, the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store, Chinatown and the South Street Seaport; like any good guide, she throws in suggestive statistics (the Baby Watson cheesecake operation uses more than 38,000 eggs a day). Several foldout pages present larger-scale visual extravaganzas, among them a panorama of the skyline as seen from the top of the Empire State Building, a high-rise under construction and dinosaur skeletons at the American Museum of Natural History. As an added treat, youngsters can search out Becky and her parents, who appear in each picture. This stunning book's piece de resistance is a spectacular double-page spread of New York Harbor on the Fourth of July, with fireworks exploding over the Statue of Liberty and an impressive assemblage of tall ships. A splendid tribute to the city that never sleeps. Description from Publishers Weekly Jakobsen's combination of descriptive, conversational text and colorful folk-art paintings brings to life a young girl's New York scenes. From the Statue of Liberty off the lower tip of Manhattan to the Museum of Natural History on West 81st Street, readers tour places and events such as the NYC Marathon, the Central Park Zoo and carousel, FAO Schwartz, Chinatown, the home of Baby Watson cheesecake, the circus at Madison Square Garden, the aircraft carrier Intrepid, South Street Seaport, and the Fourth of July fireworks over New York Harbor. Fold-out pages of the Empire State Building and a building under construction are an interesting design addition. A map appears inside both front and rear covers. Most illustrations are double paged, with a few exceptions that do not work as well because of the busy details on facing pages. Notes at the end give additional information about each site or event mentioned. Although Becky's New York is in reality only a small area of Manhattan, the marvelously detailed illustrations and the excellent range of places paints an exciting and informative picture of the best of New York City life and activity. A visual treat for children from all around the country Description from School Library Journal From the South Street Seaport to the Museum of Natural History, Jakobsen presents New York City, capturing all its incredible energy. She frames the text in a letter from a young New Yorker writing to a friend. The boy will be visiting soon, and the narrator describes the many sights he'll see, not all of them regular tourist stops--one of the neatest pictures is of the Baby Watson Cheesecake Bakery, whose owner puts his baby picture on every box. Jakobsen's shrewdly chosen sites get terrific treatments in her crowded folk-style art, which makes the city come alive. Whether the view is from the roof of the writer's apartment building or looking across at snow-covered Central Park, the pictures make viewers feel as if they were right there, riding on the Staten Island Ferry or staring up at the Empire State Building (a three-page fold-out spread). The book really covers a wide age range. Primary-graders will enjoy looking at the pictures, and older kids doing reports on the city should get a real feel for it through Jakobsen's art. Adults, too, will enjoy the visual visit. A map of the city appears on the endpapers. Description from Booklist If you happen to like New York, you just may love Kathy Jakobsen's visionof Manhattan in 'My New York.' Hers is not the real city, of course, but themetropolis of fantasy. . . . Ms. Jakobsen, a folk artist, fills her pages with panoramic paintings of familiar cityscapes (oil on canvas in the originals) that teem with color, people and urban merriment. Yet for all the dizzy activity and multitudes of faces, . . . {the book} glows with a reassuring, almost pastoral tranquillity, as if Grandma Moses and Duke Ellington might inhabit the same country after all. Of blight, you'll find nothing here. The subways are spotless, their multicultural passengers cheery and friendly. . . . Ms. Jakobsen's point is not, I think, to be nostalgic so much as to see the city through young eyes. Description from The New York Times Book Review
The Demons' Mistake: A Story from Chelm By Francine Prose	For all those in today's workaday world who wonder just who to curse when their computers go haywire, the milk turns sour, and the traffic lights get fouled up, the answer is plain. The demons! These mischievous imps like nothing better than to spoil people's fun, and will go to great lengths to do so. Take the demons of Chelm, Poland, for example. Bored with messing up the foolish villagers' hair and making livestock fly, the demons decide to take their mischief on the road--to an amazing-sounding place called New York. There, they've heard, the streets are paved with gold, the buildings are made of silver, and there are parties every day--a perfect opportunity for havoc wreaking. So the small-town demons sneak into a crate en route to America. A series of mishaps keeps them stranded in a warehouse near the shipyards for fifty years. When they are finally freed they find themselves in a stranger world than they ever imagined. It's going to be a challenge to find ways to torment this all-new variety of humans who bustle around in cars, speak on cell phones, and watch TV--but they'll manage. The mischievous demons of Chelm, the legendary town in Poland where only fools live, wreak havoc on a daily basis. They make the milk go sour, herd livestock into the sky, and rip people's clothing and tangle their hair. Then they hear about an irresistible new place called New York City. A city jammed with unsuspecting people, motor cars, and tall, shiny buildings--a mayhem loving demon's dream! When they get there, though, the big city is more than a match for the small-town demons of Chelm. . . Description from Publisher
Cinder-Elly By Frances Minters	This ultracool version of the fairy tale, set in Manhattan, updates the classic with singular flair. Taking current family trends into account, debut picture-book author Minters casts no aspersions on stepmothers and supplies her heroine with a largely absent mother. Cinder-Elly's elder sisters, on the other hand, dish out a full complement of scorn. There is indeed a ball--basketball--and a godmother provides Elly with a groovy pair of glass high-tops to wear to the big game. Naturally, ace hoop-shooter Prince Charming becomes smitten with Elly, loses track of her when the 10 p.m. witching curfew rolls around, then posts flyers advertising the shoe she leaves behind. Nearly every spread features six four-line stanzas, and rarely do the rhymes miss a beat. Lots of quotes enliven the verse, although it's occasionally hard to identify the speaker. Karas ( Into This Night We Are Rising ) doodles people, city buildings and objects in the margins; the cartoon figures interject lighthearted, childlike comments (after Godma costumes Elly, one of the extras says, ``You look great, El!''). Collages, wild patterns and funky fashions mimic music videos and build up the snazzy urban setting. An ideal match of artist and author. Description from Publishers Weekly A jazzy, rhyming, modern retelling of the Cinderella story has Cinder-Elly left out of her sisters' video games and unable to go to a basketball game for lack of a cool outfit. The artwork, which fills the page with images of New York City and pop culture, is much more fun than the verse. Description from Horn Book "Prince stared at Elly / And said, `Glad to meetcha. / After the game, let's / Go get some pizza.'" This contemporary urban Cinderella lives in New York City with her mean, brash sisters. Her godmother is a plump lady with a shopping cart and a cane, who gives Elly trendy clothes and changes a garbage can into a bike so that Elly can ride to the basketball game. There she meets the star shooter, Prince Charming, and the moment is magic. But she has to be home by 10 p.m. As she rushes away, she loses her glass sneaker . . . The story's told in fast-paced rhyme, fun for reading aloud, and the bright illustrations are like street murals, bold and rhythmic. Some pictures are new wave in style, especially the transformation scenes in which Elly, her godmother, and the prince find magic in the ordinary streets. Older readers and storytellers might like to compare this with Mary Carter Smith's "Cindy Ellie," collected in Best Loved Stories Told at the National Storytelling Festival (1991), in which Cindy Ellie rides to the Baltimore mayor's inauguration ball in a white Cadillac, her hair set in 100 shining braids. Description from Booklist
Music over Manhattan By Mark Karlins	It's a hard life for Bernie, always being compared with his perfect cousin Herbert, who gets good grades and can juggle. But Uncle Louie takes Bernie up to the roof and begins to teach him how to play the trumpet as they gaze over the lights of Brooklyn until "even the laundry was dancing in time." Bernie takes his trumpet everywhere and practices hard. After a year, Uncle Louie invites Bernie to play at Cousin Hannah's wedding, and when they get to Uncle Louie's signature piece, "Moonlight over Manhattan," even perfect cousin Herbert's antics can't compete with the magic. With a delicious and wacky sense of fantasy, the musicians begin to float over the wedding party, over the glowing city, to land back in Brooklyn and play the night away. The joy of music evident in Don Gilmour's The Fabulous Song and Chris Raschka's mystical Mysterious Thelonius flies to new heights here. Davis' figures, with their large rubbery faces and tiny hands, inhabit spaces full of the detailed and exaggerated minutiae of households, weddings, and cityscapes. Description from Booklist Eclipsed by his perfect cousin Herbert, Bernie languishes at family gatherings until Uncle Louie takes him under his wing, offering trumpet lessons. After a rocky start ("the notes squawked and screeched, and the pigeons flew off the windowsill"), Bernie perseveres, but he still can't play "the most beautiful song in the world" ("Moonlight Over Manhattan"), nor does he approach the virtuosity of Uncle Louie, who floats above his Brooklyn rooftop from the sheer glory of the song's sound. Eventually, it's Bernie who saves the day at Cousin Hannah's wedding when Herbert wreaks havoc at the head table. Bernie's command performance of "Moonlight Over Manhattan" at this crucial juncture levitates the entire wedding party, all of whom sail off happily into the night, circling the Chrysler and Empire State buildings before landing safely in Brooklyn. A thoroughly likable fantasy, Karlins' (Mendel's Ladder) tale hums merrily along to the accompaniment of first-time picture book artist Davis's sleekly stylized illustrations. Droll caricatures cavort against a glorious Big Band-era backdrop, the straight-out-of-central-casting wardrobe taking in stubby ties and two-tone shoes for men with toothy grins, and for the women cat's-eye glasses and swooping coiffures. Davis's interpretation of the night-flight sequence, with the relatives soaring through a star-spangled cobalt sky and the boy and his horn silhouetted against the moon, is particularly inspired. Description from Publishers Weekly Get ready to soar! This story will have you flying high in a matter of minutes along with Bernie, Uncle Louie, Cousin Henry and hundreds of New York relatives. You see, Bernie seems to be the only relative without talent-until a special uncle plays magical music for him and he falls in love with the trumpet. The artwork is bold and uplifting, too. Description from Children's Literature
Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House By Judi Barrett	Old MacDonald had a farm in an apartment house in the middle of the city. As the tenants move out, Old MacDonald--the building's Super--moves vegetables and farm animals into the empty rooms. The farm grows by bushels and everything is fine--until the day the owner comes by to collect the rent. Description from Publisher Old MacDonald is the super of an apartment building in our story. At the beginning we find that Mrs. MacDonald's tomato plant just isn't doing well by the basement window because of the big bush outside that blocks the light. When old MacDonald cuts the bush down and plants the tomato plant there instead, inspiration strikes. Why not plant the whole front YARD with food plants? When the tenants on the 4th floor move out, inspiration strikes again. Why not bring in some dirt and farm INDOORS?? Seems like a good idea, doesn't it?? This reissue of Judi and Ron Barrett's very first picture book will delight readers who have been giggling for years over Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or Animals Should Definitely Not Act Like People. From the start, Judi Barrett has taken ideas to their illogical and preposterous extreme. Why not let the fountain become a "self-watering pea patch?" Why not grow carrots in an empty apartment? At least it seemed like a good idea until the carrots started growing through the chandelier in the apartment below! Ron Barrett draws a very upset Fat Mr. Wrental, a very sad Old MacDonald, and a lot of very colorful vegetables. The whimsical story line opens the door to imaginative student creations. Description from Children's Literature Well, soon farm animals like cows and chickens move in, and the carrots are growing through the 3rd floor ceiling! "Either that garden goes, or I go!" bellows the 3rd floor tenant. Hmmm... Thinks Old MacD. Carrots don't smudge up the glass, lettuce doesn't track mud on the floor.... Pretty soon, the WHOLE APARTMENT is filled with produce plants and barnyard animals. This works pretty well UNTIL... Mr. Wrental shows up, the building's owner!! Are the MacDonald's doomed to be thrown out, cow and tomato plant and all?? The Barrett team of Judi and Ron has given us past treasures like "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs" and "Animals Should Definitely NOT Wear Clothing." They have done it again with "Old MacDonald..." The fine pen & ink drawings practically tell the stories themselves, with all the characters except the veggies in black & white. The text by Ms. Barrett is easy to read and a lot of fun. Definitely a must-read, must-have!! Description from Amazon.com Customer Review
Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge Gift Set (Contains Night-Light and Book) By Hildegarde H. Swift and Lynd Ward	For the sixtieth anniversary of this classic story, the proud little lighthouse and the big bridge make their debut in the Lullaby Lights gift series. This handsome gift set includes the book -- restored to its original design and featuring the illustrator's original paintings for the first time -- along with a glass night light that will make any child feel comfortable and reassured by its warm glow. A perfect gift for lovers of lighthouses and true children's classics. Lighthouses have guided sailors, adventurers, and dreamers throughout the world for centuries. This classic story of the proud little lighthouse that stands on the Manhattan bank of the Hudson River, beneath the George Washington Bridge, is paired for the first time with a beaming night-light, sure to make any room a safe and welcoming harbor. Both charming and timeless, this handsome set will be a bright addition to any home. Description from Publisher
The Escape of Marvin the Ape By Caralyn Buehner	An opportune moment arrives during feeding time at the zoo, and Marvin the ape (whose suitcase has been packed in preparation) has "slipped out." He proceeds to take in the sights, sounds and tastes of New York City, thrilled at his every turn. The peripatetic primate manages to elude the police who are looking for him as--amazingly--he fits into any crowd unnoticed. With the odds in his favor, Marvin savors his new life of freedom. Though the Buehners' text amounts to little more than a typical tourist's agenda, their vocabulary choices and turns of phrase imbue this romp with an appealing sense of wonder. Mark Buehner's (The Adventures of Taxi Dog) oil and acrylic paintings brim with kinetic energy. He employs varying perspectives to great effect as Marvin swings from tree branches, rides the Staten Island ferry and scales an apartment building's facade. The ape's facial expressions and the reactions--and non-reactions--of the people around him provide a wry wit that makes the story almost believable, despite its silly premise. Of particular note is Buehner's skill in depicting sunlight and shadow, and his clever use of big-city details. Description from Publishers Weekly When the zoo keeper isn't looking, Marvin the ape escapes from his cage and begins to enjoy a new life of restaurants and movies, shopping and ferry rides. Many landmarks in the illustrations identify the location as New York City. The book's good humor and the artist's imaginative use of rich, bright color carry the adventure to its conclusion -- the escape of Helvetica the hippo. Description from Horn Book
Ollie Knows Everything By Abby Levine	When the O'Hares go on a trip to New York, Herbert's big brother, Ollie, knows everything, just like he does at home. Herbert hates always being the foolish younger one. At the airport, in the hotel, on Ellis Island, Ollie is confident and capable and crushing--until the day he gets lost on the subway. Munsinger's illustrations are warm and funny. As in her pictures for William Cole's A Zooful of Animals, she knows how to make animal characters express human emotions. The O'Hares are rabbits, but their faces and body language reveal the exaggerated feelings of sibling rivalry: the smug older brother, the crestfallen younger one. Children will also recognize what it's like to be stuck in a crowded subway train between what seems like an elephant and a giraffe. And there's a wonderful view of the Statue of Liberty as a matronly rabbit. The playful puns in word and picture add to the fun of this wry family adventure. Description from Booklist During the O'Hare family's visit to New York, Herbert is overwhelmed by the city, but his big brother, Ollie, seems to know everything -- he can read, and he has studied Ellis Island in school. However, when they take the subway, Ollie is left behind in the crush as the family gets off. Their reunion will be satisfying to many children who fear getting lost. Munsinger's illustrations of the endearing family will charm both children and adults. Description from Horn Book Ollie seems to know absolutely everything. He can fasten the seat belt on the airplane when the family takes a trip to New York City. He reads long words like "hamburger" from the menu, and even knows all about Ellis Island. His younger brother, Herbert, becomes quite discouraged with Ollie's store of knowledge, and wonders if he will ever be as smart. Story-line excitement builds as the older rabbit becomes lost on a crowded subway train, and a frantic family search begins. The fright turns to joy and relief when they find Ollie in the hotel lobby, and Herbert thoroughly agrees with Mother that, "It's so good to have Ollie back." The energetic watercolor cartoons deftly capture all of the emotion and action. They are eye-catching, with pen-and-ink crosshatching lending detail and an infectuous, witty charm to each page. This is an entertaining choice for individual reading, or to use with a small audience. Many youngsters can (and will) empathize with Herbert's "big brother" syndrome Description from School Library Journal
The Ring By Lisa Maizlish	A series of black-and-white photographs show a little boy walking through a park in winter and finding a bright, yellow ring of plastic. When he wears the ring, suddenly everything is colorful, the season is summer, and he can fly. The boy soars above New York City and finally lands in the park again, where he leaves the ring and watches as a little girl finds it. The images of the boy flying may have been the most difficult to create, but the scenes in the park are more magical, and the last image is particularly effective. Digitally enhanced photography makes the magic possible, but Maizlish's conception and execution make this book work beyond the special effects. A picture book that children will want to show their friends. Description from Booklist Maizlish's first book attests to her sparkling creativity, first-rate photographic skills and impressive technological acumen. Digitally enhanced photos tell the story of a boy who finds a plastic toy, a thick yellow ring, in a New York City park. The object's magical power is immediately evident: black-and-white photos give way to color as the child, ring around his thumb, becomes airborne. Cleverly manipulated photos show the delighted adventurer vaulting through space, shedding his coat, hat and shoes in mid-air. He flies, Superman-style, past the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty, whose face appears behind him at startlingly close range. At last he tumbles back to the park, where he generously leaves the ring on the ground for the next youngster. Skillfully designed, the book uses simple white (for the ground shots) and black (for the in-air shots) borders to frame the photos. This wordless tale will set readers' imaginations soaring. Description from Publishers Weekly
The Race By Caroline Repchuk	The classic Aesop fable has been given a contemporary twist in The Race. Featuring the instantly recognizable Tortoise and Hare, this delightful re-telling features a rhyming text and an exciting race around the world, via boats, planes and even a hot air balloon. In Hare’s haste, he runs into all kinds of traveling trouble, while slow-and-steady Tortoise makes a leisurely trip to the end destination -New York! Lush illustrations combine with witty text to make the familiar morals of patience and diligence ring true for a whole generation. Description from Publisher Finished with crackle-grain varnish, Jay's (Picture This) droll and distinctive paintings add a winning component to this updated rendition of Aesop's fable about the tortoise and the hare. The background patterns of hairline cracks in the illustrations suggest an antique quality, as do such images as an old-fashioned hot-air balloon, a vintage ocean liner and open-cockpit planes. But Jay's playful liberties with proportion and perspective also give her work a strong contemporary feel, creating a fresh and quirky amalgam of old and new. Repchuk's (The Snow Tree) narrative, relayed in rhymed couplets of varying cleverness, is less impressive: "Tortoise and Hare each packed a case. To New York City they decided to race," it opens. Tortoise books passage on a sturdy ship that transports him from England to Manhattan, while Hare embarks on a perilous string of misadventures. Readers will chuckle as Hare rear-ends a poodle's car in Paris, crashes his hot-air balloon in Egypt and falls out of a plane into New York Harbor, where a relaxed Tortoise fishes him out. An eye-catcher. Description from Publishers Weekly The text lurches in and out of rhyme, but the idea is clever, and the illustrations are novel in this update of Aesop's "Hare and the Tortoise." Here, the duo is racing around the world. Hare peels off in his sports car, sure he has left Tortoise in his dust. But Tortoise has an idea of his own: he plops himself down on a ship. Hare, on the other hand, likes to keep moving--from car to boat to hot air balloon. In the meantime, Tortoise just keeps sailing along, until, slow and steady, he finally wins. The concept of a rabbit on the move is taken to delicious extremes in Jay's innovative, crackle-glaze illustrations. Whether Hare is shooting the rapids, trying desperately to hold on to his suitcase, or meandering down a river on a junk, there is always one more eye-catcher in the stylized pictures. Alas, the text is forced in places, and this won't be easy to read aloud. Even so, it's hard to imagine a child not delighted by the art. Description from Booklist
Full Moon By Brian Wilcox and Lawrence David	For my birthday, Grandma sent me a crystal globe of the city where she lives. “If you look carefully, maybe you can see me,” she wrote. Late that night, I woke to find a full moon glowing in a starry sky. “To Grandma’s,” I shouted. So begins a boy’s search for his grandmother as he is transported on a magical journey through nighttime New York City. The globemoon pulls him along to sweeping vistas. From the spiraling towers of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, to the grand lions on the steps of the public library, to the heights of the Chrysler Building and other wondrous sights, our hero encounters the city’s jeweled architecture and many delightful denizens–arriving just in time for a huge celebration atop a famous green lady. Description from Publisher A young birthday boy, falling asleep in sight of his new crystal globe from Grandma, takes a magical night flight over New York City. Casting his fishing rod at the globe-become-moon, the boy sails out into the sky, into a surreal world where stone lions yawn on the steps on New York's public library, flying cowboys lasso faded stars from the sky, and enchanted ladies float and dance over a wide avenue. All the friendly, dream-like people offer encouraging words--"You're just in time," "You're almost there"--but the moon lifts him away before he ever gets an answer to his many questions. The hints get broader as the evening wears on, and the party that awaits him on the Statue of Liberty is not so much a surprise as a joyful reunion with all his new friends... and his beloved grandmother. Description from Amazon.com For Wilcox's first outing, a picture book done entirely in pencil, he teams with David (Beetle Boy), and the adventure unfolds on a big stage. A boy receives a magic globe from his grandmother as a birthday gift, and Wilcox visually suggests its transformation into the moon in the sky; he then asks the moon to carry him to his grandmother. He drifts through surreal landscapes in which his toys, now large as life, zip and zoom past St. Patrick's Cathedral and through Central Park, gradually revealing Grandma's home as Manhattan. A series of unanswered questions (" `You're almost there,' a man told me. `Almost where?' I asked. But the moon lifted me away before I got an answer") hint at a surprise birthday party on top of the Statue of Liberty and a reunion with Grandma. The spreads of nighttime New York teem with life tightrope artists teeter high above the streets, water towers launch off rooftops, the public library's lions yawn and stretch but, unfortunately, the details, all in shades of gray, sometimes appear muddied. The nameless narrator seems a little indistinct, too. The city itself is the real star of the story, and Wilcox successfully brings its grandeur and allure to life. Description from Publishers Weekly
The Garden of Happiness By Erika Tamar	In Marisol's New York City neighborhood, there is an empty lot. Full of junk, the lot is cleaned up by the residents and readied to become a neighborhood garden; on a nearby brick wall a mural will be painted. Marisol wants a plot, but all the plots are taken; however, that doesn't stop her from planting a seed in a crack in the sidewalk. Diligent care makes the plant grow and grow and grow. None of the neighbors knows what it is, though one suggests it's Jack's beanstalk. Finally, it explodes into a sunflower that delights the neighborhood all summer. Marisol isn't ready for autumn and the death of her sunflower, even though she has seeds to plant next spring. Happily, the muralists decide to honor Marisol's sunflower by painting it on the wall, where it can bloom in any season. Beautifying neighborhoods has been the subject of picture books before, but this has both an element of fantasy and a friendly naturalness that will appeal directly to the audience. The artwork catches both of these attributes. Done in oils, the wonderful paintings, with their stylized shapes and pure colors, are impressionistic in spirit, unrestrained and full of movement, yet grounded in simple neighborhood moments like feeding the pigeons or sitting on the stoop. A book with the welcome message that beauty can be everywhere. Description from Booklist A delight for the eye and the heart, from two picture-book newcomers. Marisol watches with interest as grown-ups from her neighborhood descend on a junk-filled empty lot and transform it into a community garden. She wants to grow something, too, but all the plots are taken so she plants her one seed (taken from some being fed to pigeons) in a crack in the sidewalk on the edge of "The Garden of Happiness." The sunflower that finally blossoms is a surprise to all, but it does not last and Marisol is almost inconsolable. Then there is a new surprise--artists have painted sunflowers into their mural on an old brick wall. Novelist Tamar (The Junkyard Dog) conveys a passion for the city in her first picture book; the text is lengthy, but the pacing of short and long passages works very well. Lambase's accomplished art makes the book soar; recalling the work of Vera Williams, with thematic borders, a vivid palette, and audacious perspectives, these oil paintings point toward a fresh new talent. Description from Kirkus Reviews
Max Makes a Million By Maira Kalman	In this bohemian celebration, Max the dog, the poet, the dreamer, is back. His struggle for acceptance since Hey Willy, See the Pyramids has not been easy--Max has had to post his poems on a wall at the corner of Pastrami and Salami Streets for his fellow New Yorkers to see. Even as he pines for Paris, Max admits that New York City is fine by him: " . . . a jumping, jazzy city, a shimmering, stimmering triple-decker sandwich kind of city." In this unique blend of reality and fantasy, intermingled words and images seem influenced by such strange sources as Mamie Eisenhower's wardrobe, the Jazz Age and the Theatre of the Absurd. Banter that rings with sophistication is well matched by the esoteric illustrative approach readers have come to expect from Kalman. Although there is much to glean from an unhurried single reading, this fanciful creation yields its greatest treasures through repeated visits. Description from Publishers Weekly First introduced in Hey Willy, See the Pyramids, Max, the poet dog who wants to live in Paris, is trying to make his dream come true while living in "that crazy quivering wondering wild city" --New York. His friends include Bruno, an artist who paints invisible paintings; the mysterious twins Otto and Otto; and Marcello, a waiter/architect who designs upside-down houses. Kalman introduces readers to Max' world with a text that jumps around the pages and forms itself into shapes such as the Eiffel Tower, the Guggenheim Museum, curves, or zigzags. The words themselves have the exuberant rhythm of nonsense verse and are best appreciated when read aloud. With references to pompadours, the theory of gravity, soirees, and canapes, it's clear that few young children will be able to read and understand this picture book by themselves. Kalman's wit will be best appreciated by adults, who may or may not be able to explain it to their kids. The illustrations feature wild, brightly colored modern art full of elongated fantasy figures. Chagall and Picasso have influenced her use of unexpected colors (green faces, blue hair) and method of outlining the features of her characters. The style is similar to her earlier works, but is more sophisticated and inventive. The book's strangeness will not appeal to everyone, but its message about following one's dreams at all costs is thoughtfully and imaginatively presented. Description from School Library Journal
The New York Coloring Book By Annie Campbell Spanish Edition Also available	A book that will appeal to adults as much as to children, The New York Coloring Book offers a whimsical look at touring the Big Apple. Thirty ready-to-color drawings show the Beebledorf family visiting New York's most famous landmarks. On their visit, Mr. Beebledorf dreams he floats to the top of the Empire State building, daughter Lucy longs to be a Metropolitan Opera star, and son Henry lords it over the family with his superior knowledge of dinosaurs at the Museum Of Natural History. Mrs. Beebledorf enjoys the flower markets and the whole family loves Chinatown, Little Italy, and a ball game at Shea Stadium. A visit to the Apollo Theatre and an airplane ride over Central Park are highlights of their trip. Description from Publisher
See the City By David F. Marx	A boy and his family enjoy the sights of New York City, from cement sidewalks and ice skaters in the park to sparkling lights and dancing on a stage. Description from Publisher
The Adventures of Taxi Dog By Debra and Sal Barraca Spanish Edition Also available	Maxi, a stray dog, is adopted by the driver of a Checker cab, who takes Maxi along on his daily rounds. The solid illustrations of busy New York City streets are suffused with a golden glow that echoes the friendly sentiments of the story. Description from Horn Book Sometimes good fortune comes from out of nowhere to turn the unpleasant into the delightful. That's exactly what happens to Maxi, a dog who "grew up in the city/ all dirty and gritty/ looking for food after dark." By chance, Maxi meets a loving taxi driver named Jim and is offered a home. As the two become partners in the transportation business, they encounter a number of interesting passengers--a singer, an expectant mother, and two clowns with a monkey. Each page of text is bordered in bright yellow with a black-and-white checkerboard pattern in the frame to carry out the taxi motif. Bright, colorful illustrations of their adventures in the city add to the text; watch for the scenes of Maxi in a Groucho Marx disguise and with his head thrust out the open window. The central theme of this story is how nice it is to be loved and wanted, a message that we all like to hear now and then. Description from Children's Literature "My name is Maxi, / I ride in a taxi / Around New York City all day." This rhythmic beginning sets the tone for the beguiling tale of a former stray dog. Jim, a taxi driver, finds Maxi in a park, takes him home and feeds him and, from then on, takes his new friend with him to work every day. Maxi loves the sights, the sounds and even the occasional emergencies--but most of all he loves Jim, who saved him from the streets. Jim is surprised when he begins receiving big tips, but readers--and this canny canine--know the reason why. The Barraccas' narrative so perfectly echoes Maxi's jaunty attitude that children might suppose that being a New York taxi dog is the best job in the world. Buehner's black, yellow and white borders that surround the text cleverly suggest Checker cabs, and his use of dark, intense colors suggest a New York that is both familiar and funny. For dog fanciers, taxi riders and lovers of fine picture books, this is a sheer delight. Description from Publisher's Weekly
Maxi, the Hero By Debra and Sal Barracca	Maxi the taxi dog is back with his partner Jim, all set for new adventures. Starting off in their cab, they pick up two sailors just in from Tahiti, then watch a parade with giant floats, and stop for frankfurters and a blueberry tart. When someone cries "Stop, thief!" Maxi speeds off in hot pursuit of a purse snatcher, while Jim cheers him on. How Maxi finally catches the thief and is proclaimed a hero to the applause of the crowd makes this a rousing tale for all young readers. Maxi, first introduced in the widely acclaimed The Adventures of Taxi Dog, once again makes a virtuoso appearance in Mark Buehner's brilliant and joyous paintings depicting the warm, affectionate relationship between two best friends. Debra and Sal Barracca's engaging tale will be happily welcomed by all who loved Maxi's first adventures, and is bound to earn a host of new fans for this wonderful mutt. Description from Publisher Maxi the taxi dog returns for another rousing poetic romp through New York City. This is a day for rescues as he and Jim get a chef overburdened with spaghetti to a wedding and Maxi stops a purse snatcher to become Maxi, the Hero . The energetic verse is reminiscent of the work of R. W. Service with a similar sense of fun and appreciation of the working class. Buehner's bold and colorful oil-over-acrylic illustrations abound in delightful detail, including the illusive cat and bunnies from The Adventures of Taxi Dog. Clouds caper in the background, and a marvelous array of people on the streets employ and enjoy the sights, smells, and sounds around them. The checkered yellow borders around the white pages of text provide a cheerful connection to the illustrated cab and make for easy reading. This is a robust read-aloud with a wealth of visual appeal--don't expect it to sit on the shelf for long. Description from School Library Journal Maxi's poetic talents show considerable improvement since The Adventuresof Taxi Dog, which occasionally stumbled in its rhythms and sometimes descended to mere--well--doggerel. Mr. Buehner conveys the overwhelming vitality and bustle of New York City wonderfully. His panoramic pictures vibrate with detail and activity; so much is happening that the pages seem to be straining to speak aloud. Description from The New York Times Book Review
Bailey's Birthday By Elizabeth Happy	Hit the sidewalks of New York with a girl names Margot--who loves anything that flies--and a dalmatian pup named Bailey. Both are on their best behavior in anticipation of their shared birthday celebration. Students will feel Bailey's keen disappointment when all he gets for his birthday is a bandanna. But then he finds that the best presents are not always gift wrapped. Description from Publisher
Disney's Oliver and Company Little Library (Board Book Set)	This adorable animated adaptation of Dickens' classic tale Oliver Twist tells the story of a gang of New York City dogs who help save the day for a little kitten without a home. Four board books in a slipcase especially designed for little hands. Description from Publisher
Amy Elizabeth Explores Bloomingdale's By E. L. Konigsburg	Welcome to New York! Amy Elizabeth lives in the suburbs of Houston, Texas, but she's come to New York City to visit her grandmother. Grandma promises Amy Elizabeth they will go to Bloomingdale's -- "we New Yorkers call it Bloomie's" -- the most famous store in the world. Getting to a department store when you live in the suburbs of Houston is a matter of getting in the car and driving to the mall. But in the city -- especially when that city is New York -- there are many ways to get there, and there seem to be as many ways not to. However, all the things -- from a visit to the top of the Empire State Building to a carriage ride in Central Park -- that get between Amy Elizabeth and Bloomingdale's also bring her closer to Grandma. With her characteristic humor and insight, two-time Newbery Medalist E. L. Konigsburg celebrates the special relationship between a little girl and her grandmother. Description from Publisher Newbery Medalist Konigsburg (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler), who featured her grandson, Samuel Todd, in two prior picture books, here names her heroine after her granddaughter. Youngsters may miss the irony of the title, since Amy Elizabeth--a Houston resident who is staying with her grandmother in Manhattan--never does make it to Bloomingdale's. Though they repeatedly plan to visit "the most famous store in the world," the duo gets sidetracked by some of the city's other attractions, including Chinatown, the Empire State Building, the Carnegie Deli and a Broadway musical. Amy Elizabeth's rambling, first-person narrative is chatty and entertaining, even if she doesn't always speak in credible, age-appropriate jargon--"I am a child who enjoys a good pickle." Konigsburg's large-scale, characteristically realistic color pictures, together with black-and-white panels similar to film frames, offer a vivid portrait of a distraction-filled city--and a most affectionate relationship between grandmother and granddaughter. Description from Publishers Weekly
Froggie Went A-Courting By Marjorie Priceman	"Froggie went a-courting, he did ride A taxicab to the Upper West Side." "Froggie went a-courting, he did ride / A taxicab to the Upper West Side." The traditional Scottish folk song gets a cosmopolitan twist in this lavishly illustrated version set in a Manhattan populated with chic animals. Froggie proposes to Ms. Mouse, and the engagement is announced in lights on Broadway. Sour, bigoted Auntie Rat scorns the marriage ("A slimy frog--he's not our kind!"), but the celebration goes forward anyway, with a dress from Chinatown, a wedding party atop the Statue of Liberty, and then a mad dash to a cruise, pursued by an interloping tomcat who brings about Auntie Rat's demise. The story retains the pacing of a song; rhythmic couplets unfold the scenes at a manic, almost disjointed speed. But children, even those unfamiliar with the song, will delight in the rhymes and infectious, bouncy tempo, and in Priceman's wonderful illlustrations that all but explode with wit, color, and whimsy. An excellent choice for story hours. Description from Booklist Join Froggie and Ms. Mouse on an adventure through New York City as they prepare to wed. Children will enjoy reading about all the animals in New York that help Froggie and Ms. Mouse get married at the top of the Statue of Liberty. Everyone from fish to bees is involved, except Aunt Rat. She is staunchly against the wedding because Froggie is "not their kind." This causes complications in the wedding plans that are solved by a big tomcat. The feelings expressed by Auntie Rat could be used to start a discussion with young children about how to treat people that are different from you. This is a wonderful book that could be read aloud again and again. Children will love the rhyme pattern of this updated version of an old Scottish folk song. The bold illustrations are attention-grabbing and complement the story well. Children will be sure to memorize this story and sing it to themselves as they relive Froggie and Ms. Mouse's beautiful wedding. Description from Children's Literature With characteristic verve, Priceman (One of Each) turns the Scottish folk song about the marriage of a frog and a mouse into a zingy picture book. In this rendition, the action takes place not in the countryside but in contemporary Manhattan. Froggie hops a cab over to Ms. Mouse's apartment above the Cheese World storefront and asks for her hand in marriage. Soon preparations for a reception atop the Statue of Liberty are underway. Word of the engagement flashes in Times Square lights; Ms. Mouse reads Modern Mouse Bride. But just as the wedding celebration goes into full swing, "a guest with a long black tail" arrives, sets the partygoers scurrying and makes a meal of crabby Auntie Rat. Priceman pays a fitting tribute to the Big Apple, giving her text a big-city bustle and rhythm and showcasing such attractions as Chinatown, the Empire State Building and a Circle Line tourist boat. She more than matches the story's zip with gouache and cut-paper compositions saturated in kicky color. A master of clever perspective, Priceman whisks readers from street-level views of towering buildings to the sky-high party in Lady Liberty's crown Description from Publishers Weekly The 400-year-old Scottish folk song about the frowned-upon-yet-joyful marriage of a frog and a mouse is splashed with the lights of Times Square in Caldecott Honor artist Marjorie Priceman's clever take on "Froggie Went A-Courting." Where will the wedding party be? On top of the Statue of Liberty. Who will make the wedding gown? Ms. Dragonfly in Chinatown. Auntie Rat is against this amphibian-rodent marriage ("A slimy frog--he's not our kind!" she cried), but she can't stop the happy occasion. (The bold paintings explode with festive wedding-day color, bees, and jazzy melodies.) That's not to say that Ms. Rat herself can't be stopped, as a black-tailed feline guest shows up at the wedding and eats her. While this can't exactly be called a moral story ("Those who exhibit prejudice will be promptly eaten by a predator" just doesn't seem right), Priceman outdoes herself with these splashy, colorful, skewed-perspective glimpses of New York City. Description from Amazon.com
Next Stop, New York City! : A Polk Street Special By Patricia Reilly Giff	Bright lights, big city--Ms. Rooney's class is heading for NYC! They'll see dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History and they'll visit the Bronx Zoo, the Statue of Liberty, and many more sights. They'll even be in a Flag Day parade. Ms. Rooney's named Emily their "New York City expert." But Emily doesn't know a thing about The Big Apple. And it's Pizzazz Week at the Polk Street School--not only does Emily not have pizzazz, but she did something that let her class down. What will she do when they find out? Not to worry! Emily finds the answers in The Big Apple, which is full of fun and big surprises for everyone. Description from Publisher Ms. Rooney and her Polk Street crowd are visiting New York City, and Emily Arrow faces a dilemma. She has been dubbed the "New York City Expert" and all she knows about it is that her Aunt Caroline lives in the Bronx. Worse than that, she has let her class down by not watering the "This Is Life" plants and allows Sherri Dent to take the rap. She finds a "baby book" at the library to help her learn about the Big Apple but has to keep it hidden between a fat book on plants and a biography of Betsy Ross. As the bus carrying the young travelers wends its way through the city, Emily alternates between impressing them with her knowledge of the city's landmarks and supplying readers with some fascinating information about Betsy Ross. Sherri finally learns that she has been dubbed as the plant killer and Emily apologizes. The trip ends with a surprise sleep-over at Aunt Caroline's and readers leave the crowd happy, tired, and full of pizza. Sims's occasional full-page black-and-white sketches add humor and character to the story. A 45-page guide to New York City complete with maps and phone numbers is included. An easy-to-read chapter book for fans of the series or for youngsters planning to visit New York City. Description from School Library Journal
The Gingerbread Boy By Richard Egielski	"Run run run as fast as you can. You can't catch me! I'm the gingerbread man." In this modern retelling of a nursery classic, Caldecott-winning illustrator Richard Egielski adds an urban twist to a well-loved tale. This time, the gingerbread boy is on the loose in New York City, and he taunts everyone from construction workers to subway musicians, until his fateful chase through Central Park! Description from Publisher In a smooth and sophisticated version of the famous tale, this Gingerbread Boy pops out of an oven in an apartment somewhere in lower Manhattan. As he runs down the New York City streets, the arrogant little cookie is chased by his family, a rat, subway musicians, and others. The lively and beguiling illustrations lightheartedly and securely place a traditional tale in a contemporary setting. Description from Horn Book
Lookin' for Bird in the Big City By Robert Burleigh	From bridge to street to subway, Miles Davis hears the king of bebop's music so clearly he feels they must be destined to meet. Finally, when it seems he has turned the last corner of the city, he finds him-Charlie Parker, the most fantastic bird ever heard. Robert Burleigh's soulful lyricism and Marek Los's bold brushstrokes combine to create a brilliant portrait of what might have happened one fateful night. Description from Publisher Words and art harmonize in this creatively imagined account of the first meeting between a teenage Miles Davis and celebrated saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. Los makes a sparkling children's book debut here: his paintings create visual riffs that complement the jazz musicians and setting he salutes. Based on a true story, Burleigh's (Hoops) lyrical narrative follows the young Miles as he wanders through New York City in search of Parker. As he traverses the streets, Davis plays his trumpet: "Notes came to me,/ as jagged as the city skyline,/ and far away as where the sun goes down,/ 'cause I wanted my music to soar as high as his,/ and I had to be ready." Los's paintings capture the mood of the music plus the energy and vibrancy of Manhattan at daybreak, twilight and under overcast skies. He mingles blazing color and dramatic shadowing and inventively juxtaposes natural and neon light. Observant youngsters will realize that several times Davis's path just misses crossing Parker's and will pick up on the intermittent presence of a snow-white bird in the sky (as well as evidence of such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday). Even without the strains of bebop ("Zip-de-ba, dip-dip-dip, de-beoo-de-boo") that float across these pages, readers would appreciate the deep resonance of this fine collaboration. Description from Publishers Weekly Who would have thought that the hip jazz musicians who created bebop in the 1940s would eventually be celebrated in children's picture books? Certainly not Charlie Parker (Charlie Parker Played Bebop), Thelonious Monk (Mysterious Thelonious), nor Miles Davis, the hero of Burleigh and Los' entry in the jazz-for-toddlers sweepstakes. Burleigh tells a fictionalized version of Davis' teenage journey to New York to meet his idol, Parker, with whom he later performed. (Unlike many fictionalized biographies, though, this one establishes in the beginning that the story represents only what "might have happened.") Complemented superbly by first-time illustrator Los' evocative paintings, done in pencil, oil, and watercolor and finished in Photoshop, the text captures the young Davis' openness to the sights and especially the sounds of the city. Los' impressionistic two page-spreads convey the intimidating magnificence of Manhattan as seen from rooftops and bridges, as well as the neon energy of city streets lined with jazz clubs. Like all of the jazz picture books, this one will most appropriately be read to children and used as an entree into the music and its history, but the detail-rich pictures and bouncy text will hold kid's interest nicely. Description from Booklist
Nana's Birthday Party By Amy Hest	In her big apartment on N.Y.C.'s 86th Street, Nana prepares for her party as she does every year, with her daughters and their daughters, Maggie and Brette, coming the night before to help. Nana's rules are firm but sensible--"No jeans. No gum...No fighting and no whining"; "No presents, except the kind you make yourself." Along with licking the cake bowl, helping Nana hang streamers, and looking at family photos, the girls work on their presents, each feeling just a little competitive about the other's talent. But the tidy resolution of their feelings (Maggie writes a book for Nana, and Brette illustrates it) is less significant than the well-realized characters and the intriguing particulars of their traditions. The comfortably old-fashioned household comes entirely to life, especially in Schwartz's illustrations, which are rich with comic insights, decorative detail, and the cousins' abundant high spirits and good humor. What an orderly, likable family. Description from Kirkus Reviews Each year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Nana throws herself a birthday party, and her two granddaughters, Maggie and Brette, always spend the night before the event at her grand Manhattan apartment. Besides helping to bake a cake, decorate the spacious living room with streamers and balloons, and looking at old photos, the girls agonize over their special gifts for their grandmother, gifts that she insists must be handmade. Maggie, the narrator, is a writer; Brette is a painter. Both feel that the other gives better gifts. The story comes to a smooth and logical conclusion when the children collaborate on a book inspired by one of Nana's black-and-white photographs. A solid, old-fashioned sense of family is captured in the text. The colorful precision of Schwartz's detailed drawings adds life and vigor to each scene. The elderly woman's character is revealed through the lively abstract and floral patterns that dominate her apartment. This book, with its emphasis on happy, creative, homespun experiences, will strike a chord in many readers young and old Description from School Library Journal
Donnatalee: A Mermaid Adventure By Erika Tamar	It's summer in New York City and Kate and her family are headed toward the beach. Once her feet hit the sand, the child heads for the ocean and her imagination takes off. In her fantasy, she becomes the wild and free Donnatalee, a mermaid who has adventures with various sea creatures and is eventually claimed by King Neptune "for his own" (apparently feminism has not reached the underwater world). Kate is called back to her pedestrian existence by her father, who announces that it is time to go home. She rejoins her family but goes to sleep dreaming of Donnatalee. Lambase's oils vibrate and undulate and form a perfect backdrop for the youngster's dreamlike journey. The hot glowing oranges and pinks of the city turn to the cool blues and greens of the ocean depths. This slight story can be paired with Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach for a change of pace during summer storytimes or teamed with Mary Pope Osborne's Mermaid Tales from Around the World for a unit on mermaids. Description from School Library Journal
Moses Goes to School By Isaac Millman	Moses goes to a special school, a public school for the deaf. He and all of his classmates are deaf or hard-of-hearing, but that doesn't mean they don't have a lot to say to each other! They communicate in American Sign Language (ASL), using visual signs and facial expressions. Isaac Millman follows Moses through a school day, telling the story in pictures and written English, and in ASL, introducing hearing children to the signs for some of the key words and ideas. At the end is a favorite song -- "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" -- in sign! Description from Publisher As in Moses Goes to a Concert, this joyful picture book tells a story in written English and also in American Sign Language (ASL). This time the focus is directly on how deaf children learn at their special public school--in the classroom, on the playground, and on the school bus. The warm line-and-watercolor illustrations show the diversity of Moses' city classroom, the fun the children have together, and the special way they learn. There are small diagrams of Moses signing simple sentences on almost every page. Millman explains in an introductory note that ASL has its own handshapes, movements, and facial expressions, as well as its own grammar and syntax. Moses types a letter on the computer and learns to translate it into spoken English. The teacher plays "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on his boom box; the children can feel the vibrations and they sign the words to the song. A must for deaf children, this will also interest hearing kids and adults who want to learn about ASL. Description from Booklist Children have an ongoing fascination for American Sign Language, perhaps because it seems like a "secret code" used by deaf people to communicate. While Millman doesn't totally unlock the code for children, he does offer a charming peek at ASL, which will intrigue the youngest children for whom this book is written. Moses goes to a special school where everyone learns and communicates in sign language. Moses' classmates are a delightfully drawn mini U.N. of deafness, coming from every culture and country. Living in New York makes this internationalism possible. The diverse group of children uses computers, plays at recess, and dances just like their hearing counterparts. They even sing/sign "Take Me Out to the Ballgame," which is illustrated in a picture chart that readers can imitate. It is true that most schools now mandate inclusion for handicapped children, but Moses' school represents a different model; deaf children learning together in a classroom specially suited to their needs. Moses' school is a colorful oasis where learning is clearly taking place in a different, yet equal, environment, and Moses and his friends provide a sunny vehicle for showing how hearing-impaired people are able to learn. Description from Children's Literature
Moses Goes to a Concert By Isaac Millman	Composed with the help of educators at New York City's School for the Deaf, this very special book gives readers a hands-on introduction to American Sign Language, with easy-to-follow diagrams of signs accompanying the bright, cheerful pictures and the hand alphabet at the end of the book. Description from Publisher Millman's story, illustrated in delicate watercolors, ought to pop open a few young eyes (and perhaps some adult eyes as well). Moses and his school chums, all deaf, are off to a young people's concert. They take their seats up front, where a row of percussion instruments is arrayed between them and the orchestra. When the percussionist appears, she is in her stocking feet; she is deaf, and will feel the music through the floor. Moses's teacher hands out balloons that they will hold in their laps and that will help them feel the music. After the concert the percussionist, using sign language, gives the students a little inspirational talk, which Moses delivers to his parents later that evening. The power of Millman's book comes from the simple fact that he levels the playing field; of course deaf children go to concerts, but conveying how they enjoy music removes yet one more barrier between those who can hear and those who cannot. Moses also appears in inset boxes, signing comments aimed at readers and encouraging them to attempt signs. A few spreads are given over entirely to signed conversations, with effectively diagrammed hand movements and facial expressions. The final page illustrates the signed letters of the alphabet. Description from Kirkus Reviews A group of deaf children is taken to a concert where the youngsters meet the percussionist, a friend of their teacher, and learn to their surprise that she is also deaf. She explains to Moses and his class how she became a percussionist even though she had lost her hearing and helps them understand that anything is possible with hard work and determination. She lets the children play on her instruments and feel the vibrations on balloons that their teacher has given them. Cheerful watercolor illustrations show the multiethnic children enjoying themselves at the concert, while smaller cartoon strips feature Moses's additional comments in sign language. A page displaying the manual alphabet and a conversation in sign language in which Moses tells his parents about his day enhance the upbeat story. Description from School Library Journal
Moses Goes to the Circus By Isaac Millman	Experience the Big Apple's Circus of the Senses. Moses and his family are going to the circus. Not just any circus but the Big Apple's Circus of the Senses! In a single ring, there are acts by trapeze artists, acrobats, elephants, horses, and clowns - all specially designed for the deaf and hard-of-hearing and the blind. Moses's little sister, Renee, isn't deaf but is learning sign language, and Moses loves teaching her the signs for their day at the circus. Isaac Millman takes readers on a wonderful outing in pictures and written English and in American Sign Language (ASL). Detailed diagrams of the signs are included so that readers can learn along with Renee. Description from Publisher Moses and his family are having a great time at the circus; but since Moses is deaf, the whole family signs. Even little sister Renee, who cannot talk yet, amuses this loving family by calling every animal "cat." This third in the series (Moses Goes to a Concert, 1998; Moses Goes to School, 2000) can be read consecutively to watch Moses's sister grow up. While Renee is getting taller and more able to sign, the hearing reader passively learns that a child who has no verbal language can be developing language skills before she is able to speak, and more important, a family with a child who is deaf can be normal. Set up by the earlier stories, the hearing readers learn by observing the main character, Moses, who can communicate with friends, schoolmates, and family with the ease born of an excellent American Sign Language education. Though Millman does not mean to be political, and it's fabulous that a juvenile picture book can represent deaf culture, it will be a great day when the bibliotherapeutic aspects in books can be dispensed with in favor of the plot. Millman gently educates the public regarding factual information about sign language or deaf culture before the story begins, but the information shared in the text tends to detract and slow its pace. Insets show Moses signing a whole sentence, but on every page, readers can enjoy the watercolor illustrations edged in black even more, because the text corresponds to hand movements, making it possible to read hands while depicting a sweet boy who loves and is loved by his family-politics aside. Description from Kirkus Reviews
The Penguin Quartet By Peter Arrhenius	When four penguin dads get bored incubating their eggs in the South Pole, they decide to form a jazz quartet and go to New York. They pack up their eggs and play their cool penguin jazz in all the clubs and even on TV, until their eggs finally start to hatch. Funny details and asides fill the bright, retro illustrations in this humorous tale. Description from Horn Book
Where on Earth is My Bagel? by Frances Park and Ginger Park	No one knows how the idea of a New York bagel popped into Yum Yung's head -- perhaps it was inspired by a dream, or by listening to sparrows' songs. Yum Yung lives in Korea where there are no New York bagels, and one day he just knows he has to have one. This timeless fable will make readers giggle with delight and satisfaction as Yum Yung, with the help of his friends, fulfills his bagel dream. The tale illustrates the power of perseverance. Description from Publisher Where on earth did Yum Yung get the urge to have a bagel? He has no idea, but desperate for one, he sends a message from his Korean village via pigeon to New York City for someone to send him one. While he waits, he asks the farmer, the fisherman, and the honeybee keeper for help, but none of them have ever heard of a bagel. Just after Yum Yung reaches Oh's Heavenly Bakery, the bird returns without a bagel, but with the recipe. The baker gets the required ingredients from the boy's new friends and makes one huge bagel. "It was so heavenly he could even taste the curious hole in the middle." With charming gouache illustrations that evoke the intricate and colorful patterns found in Korean fabrics, this story mixes up cultures quite nicely. Bagel shapes abound, including a full moon with a cloud providing the hole in the middle. Pair this story with Ina Friedman's How My Parents Learned to Eat for a fun program on foods in different cultures. Description from School Library Journal
Abuela By Arthur Dorros Spanish Edition Also Available	Rosalba imagines how the grandmother who takes her to the park might soar with her over the city (New York), sharing the sights. Since "Abuela" speaks "mostly Spanish," Rosalba mentions many Spanish words for what they see, and in their conversations. Though the storyline here is slight, the relationship glows with affection; the Spanish vocabulary is well integrated and clear in context. Kleven's illustrations--jewel- like collages of sparkling images and patterns, crammed with intriguing details--effectively transmit Rosalba's joy in her narrative. Pronouncing glossary. Description from Kirkus Reviews In a book exuberantly liberating in concept and design, a small girl imagines that she and her grandmother are flying high above Manhattan. The text is a series of straightforward declarative sentences with Spanish words carefully integrated into the context. A handsome book, with energetic, well-composed collage illustrations. Description from Horn Book
When This World Was New By D. H. Figueredo	True to the child's viewpoint, this picture book tells an elemental immigration story that is candid about both the hardship and the hope. Danilito is scared when he leaves his warm Caribbean island home to fly to the U.S. with his parents. He feels like an outsider in the crowded New York City airport ("They didn't speak in Spanish"). Mam is sad; Pap is worried about her. A kind relative is waiting for them, and he helps them settle in a small house ("All the rooms had furniture"). He warns them that they must speak in English and that the winters are long and cold. Danilito worries about starting in a new school where no one knows Spanish. He fumbles with the thick winter clothes. But when he wakes up in the morning, it is snowing; he and Pap leave their footprints in the snow, and everything is new and magical. As in Uri Shulevitz's 1999 Caldecott Honor book, Snow, the child sees a world transformed by the falling snow. Sanchez's tender acrylic illustrations show the child's feelings of fear and wonder as well as the adults' tension. The pictures show what the title says about the sense of discovery in a new home. Description from Booklist Danilito and his parents have just arrived in New York from their Caribbean island home. They have a place to live and some warm clothing for their first winter. But Danilto is worried. How can he go to school when he speaks no English? How will he find friends among all these strangers? The next morning Papa wakes Danilito up, telling him to look out the window. "Nieve," Papa explains. "Snow." The two explore the magical world of their first snowfall in New York, and Danilito finds that he is still scared. But not as much. Description from Publisher
Lisa's Airplane Trip (The Misadventures of Gaspard and Lisa) By Anne Gutman	When Lisa goes on a plane trip by herself for the first time, her flight from Paris to New York is extremely eventful. She sits next to a "blue lady" (she's wearing a blue dress) who ends up moving after Lisa squirms a bit too much. Before she can nap for very long on her newly empty stretch of seats, food arrives on a tray. And if that weren't thrilling enough, a movie (Cowboys Forever) comes on, and in the attempt to see over the seats (Lisa is a small dog), she knocks over her orange juice glass. This sets off a whole new chain of events, as "the airplane lady" gives her a bath in the bathroom sink and she gets a special tour of the cockpit (where the pilots tell the newly soaped dog she smells nice). By the time she gets back to her seat, she's in America, "all clean." Granted, this is a simple story. Its charm lies in Anne Gutman's funny, loving details and in Georg Hallensleben's ever irresistible paintings of small moments: the spattered orange paint as her juice goes everywhere, the very cute sink bath, etc. This is the perfect book for any youngster who's about to go on a plane ride, or anyone else, for that matter. Luckily for us, this, and its companion Gaspard on Vacation mark the start of what promises to be a delightful series. Highly recommended! Description from Amazon.com
Lisa in New York (The Misadventures of Gaspard and Lisa) By Anne Gutman	After an exciting flight (Lisa's Airplane Trip), Lisa, the petite white dog from Paris, is ready for her big adventure in New York. With suave Uncle Harrison to show her around, what could possibly go wrong? The two visit the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and best of all, Times Square! Alas, this is where Lisa and her uncle part ways--accidentally. Luckily, our earnest heroine is also pretty street smart. After asking a police officer for help, she's trying to get the attention of the woman at the information desk, when she hears an announcement: "Little Lisa, your uncle is waiting for you on the 64th floor." Saved! If you're as much a fan of Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben's collaborative efforts as we are--or even if you've never met Lisa or Gaspard ( Gaspard on Vacation), you'll be utterly charmed by Lisa in New York. Hallensleben's thick, smeary brush strokes are endlessly appealing, whether depicting the "funny-looking Flatiron Building" or a raring-to-go Lisa gazing out the window of her hip uncle's high-rise (he seems to have some Andy Warhol paintings on his wall!) Description from Amazon.com In this continuation of the series, Lisa's Uncle Harrison sends her a ticket to visit him in New York City, setting the stage for a hymn to the wonders of Manhattan Island, accompanied by rich, evocative, full-color paintings. The pup sees the tourist sights-Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, etc.-and when she is separated from her uncle in Times Square, she reports, "I'm no baby. I knew just what to do. I found a policeman-." The book is made unintentionally poignant by the presence of the Twin Towers in the city landscapes. Description from School Library Journal
Gaspard and Lisa at the Museum (The Misadventures of Gaspard and Lisa) By Anne Gutman	Gaspard and Lisa try not to turn adventures into misadventures, but it's hard. Especially when the whole class gets to go on an exciting field trip to the Museum of Natural History. What wonders lie within! A whale skeleton, monkeys, and dinosaurs thrill the students, but the exhibit of extinct animals is the most exciting of all. When their classmates make a silly joke about the two friends looking like extinct animals (they are dogs; the classmates are human), the cunning canines decide to gently retaliate. They hop into the extinct animal exhibit themselves, making small signs--"very rare animal (white)" and "very rare animal (black)"--and freezing like statues in the display. Their ruse is a success! Or is it? Anne Gutman and Georg Hallensleben's Gaspard and Lisa books are all very slight stories, but with such quiet, charming details and unbearably cute (yet gorgeous) illustrations that they completely charm our socks off. Don't miss another favorite in the series, Lisa's Airplane Trip. Description from Amazon.com
The Babe Ruth Ballet School By Tim Shortt	Perhaps you don't remember Issy Archer, the last nine-year-old girl to play big-league baseball. Issy pitches for the 1923 Yankees, and her "soaking, sopping wet" spitball is unhittable. Issy's best buddy is Babe Ruth; they hang together after games, downing Fizzy Pink Soda and wolfing chili dogs. Despite her pitching talent, Issy dreams of being a ballet dancer, and eventually she retires from the game to dance ("When a girl turns 10, she needs to consider her future" ). Babe goes along with Issy's dancing, even joining her ballet class, but her retirement gives him a major-league bellyache. With the same sort of silly irreverence that drives fractured fairy tales, Shortt upends baseball history in uproarious fashion, slaying a few gender stereotypes along the way. His rambunctious illustrations are as delightful as his text: chunky, oversize figures dominate the colorful two-page spreads, cavorting about the ball field and the ballet studio with equal abandon. Even the youngest children will catch Shortt's contagious silliness: you don't need to know who Babe Ruth was to get a chortle out of the burly Bambino displaying his ballet technique before some befuddled sportswriters. Great fun for the picture-book crowd, young and old. Description from Booklist
Darinka: The Little Artist Deer By Rachel Nickerson Luna	Darinka is different from other deer in the forest because her favorite activity is drawing pictures. She is stymied in her attempt to find colors to use until she hears two old bucks talking about a place called New York City where artists and people who love art live. Her mind is made-up, she will find her way to this place. Her reactions to the city emphasize the contrast between the forest and the concrete streets, but she persists and finds success and love. The pursuit of a dream is important for children to learn. Description from Children's Book Review Courageous little Darinka floats down the Hudson River on a raft to New York City, the city "of her hopes and dreams." She begins to paint, finds a gallery to give her a "one deer show", yet is overcome with fear on the opening night. She finds success and returns to the forest for a happy reunion. An inspiring story for boys and girls ages 4 to 8. Description from Publisher
On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed By Betty & Michael Paraskevas	The mother-and-son team that created Junior Kroll offers another rhymed picture-book presentation. The text is a patriotic song describing how a single eagle soars high above the tall ships sailing up the Hudson River on the Fourth of July. With eyes like "canary diamonds in the sun," this magnificent bird looks more regal in the flesh than carved in stone as he reminds the crowds below of all he symbolizes. The rich, acrylic illustrations feature a black, white, and yellow raptor set against a mostly blue background of sky and sea. Many spreads present aerial views of this American icon gliding high over Manhattan, and several scenes depict close-ups of the bird in flight. With music appended, this is a good choice for story hours, especially on Independence Day. Description from Booklist "He was gallant, he was regal, Did you see that eagle, Eyes, canary diamonds in the sun?" On the Fourth of July, as the tall ships sail into the harbor to commemorate our country's independence, a lone bald eagle comes to rest atop a bridge that spans the bay. This eagle -- a symbol of our freedom come to life -- soars on high as a mighty witness to America's celebration. Based on a patriotic song written by Betty Paraskevas, with the score included, On the Day the Tall Ships Sailed features bold watercolor paintings by Michael Paraskevas in a glorious new style. Description from Publisher Told in rhyme, the text follows the journey of tall ships into New York Harbor for a Fourth of July celebration. A lone bald eagle follows the ships in, circling above the action. "He was standing in the sky/As the tall ships moved on by./He was flesh and blood that Sunday in July." An accompanying musical score is included. Vivid panoramic paintings of the ships and the harbor, as seen from the bird's perspective up high, tie the book together. A combination of beefy brush strokes and deep blue hues add to the effectiveness of the art. Although it does not offer any background information as to why the Fourth of July is celebrated, this title can be used to introduce both this nationalistic holiday and a national symbol Description from School Library Journal
Halmoni and the Picnic By Sook-Nyul Choi	Yunmi, a Korean-American third-grader in a N.Y.C. parochial school, worries about her grandmother Halmoni, who's been in the US only two months and is having a hard time with the English language and American customs. When Yunmi's friends invite Halmoni to chaperon a class picnic and Halmoni insists on bringing special Korean food, Yunmi fears her classmates may turn up their noses at the kimbap or make fun of Halmoni's traditional clothing. But thanks to Halmoni's gentle, generous ways and the children's good- natured curiosity, the day is a great success--and Halmoni is even emboldened to say goodbye in English. Manhattan looks clean and picturesque in color illustrations that fill alternate pages, bordered in beautiful Korean textile designs. A sensitive exploration of difficulties facing immigrants, particularly older people who don't get the crash course in American culture provided by school or a job. Description from Kirkus Reviews One of the few picture books reflecting a Korean-American experience, the lovely story describes the difficulties Yunmi's newly arrived grandmother faces while adjusting to life in New York City. In an effort to cheer Halmoni, Yunmi invites her grandmother to chaperone at the annual class picnic in Central Park. With gentle, glowing detail, the art and text weave a touching tale. Description from Horn Book Yunmi's grandmother Halmoni has recently arrived in New York from Korea, and her adjustment isn't easy. She doesn't want to speak English, especially around Yunmi's friends, though she endears herself to them by bringing them fruit. Yunmi is worried her grandmother won't ever get into the swing of things, so when her class needs a chaperone for a picnic, she volunteers Halmoni. Yunmi almost regrets her invitation when Halmoni insists on bringing "kimbap", a sushi-looking dish made of rice, carrots, eggs, and green vegetables wrapped in seaweed. But the food is a hit, and so is Halmoni, who tries out her English for the first time with the kids in Yunmi's class. Nothing unexpected happens here; in fact, this is a story that's probably been told as long as there have been immigrant grandmothers. But it is pleasing nonetheless, thanks to the lovely bordered watercolor art and the subtle text, both of which display a fine sensitivity. A good jumping-off place for discussion about cultures and/or generations. Description from Booklist
A Very Important Day By Maggie Rugg Herold	Early one morning, too excited to sleep, a woman from the Philippines watches from her window as snow falls on New York City. As the day breaks, 11 other families-each originally from a different country-are seen heading downtown and heard referring to this ``very important day.'' Youngsters won't pick up on their destination until well past the story's midpoint: these families are bound for the courthouse, where, among a vast group, they are sworn in as U.S. citizens. After each receives a certificate and recites an oath, the judge announces: "Welcome. We are glad to have you. This is a very important day." And as the new citizens, their families and friends leave the building to view the sun shining on the freshly fallen snow, a voice in the crowd proclaims, awkwardly and repetitiously, "This has become our country on this very important day!" Ending with a note explaining the process of gaining citizenship, Herold's first children's book meets the target audience in terms of its content, but its repetitive structure is better suited to younger children. Description from Publishers Weekly November 25th is the day that 219 people will take the oath of allegiance to the United States and become citizens. The focus of this multicultural narrative is the naturalization ceremony, which brings the 12 families introduced in the previous pages together in celebration of this momentus event. Each double-page segment is devoted to one family as fathers, mothers, children, and other relatives prepare to leave for the court in lower Manhattan. Originally coming from Scotland or Ghana, India or El Salvador, each group shares the nervous excitement generated by this occasion. Because of the episodic nature of the book, it is sometimes difficult to keep track of the many characters, but a glossary of names at the end is helpful for pronunciation and reinforces the geographical spread of the countries represented. Herold includes a brief explanation of what is involved in becoming a U.S. citizen, which will make clear to young readers the lengthy process and amount of preparation that has brought each individual to this day. Stock's sprightly watercolors reinforce the celebratory mood, even as they depict the details of homes, dress, and way of life of various people. Both author and illustrator have also captured the nuances of the way the children are already Americanized in their dress and colloquial conversations. Many books deal with the immigrant experience in terms of getting here and settling in; this title offers another dimension. A welcome addition to the picture-book shelves. Description from School Library Journal After the first quiet, gray-tone painting, which pictures a solitary face staring out at a city dawn dotted with snowflakes, this book bursts forth in a riot of color and activity. Each double-page spread introduces a different family--the Huertas, the Leonovs, the Zengs, the Akuffos, the Patels, and many others--who announce their excitement about this "very special day," the day they will be sworn in as naturalized citizens of the U.S. Multicultural in the broadest sense, the book shows people of different countries united by their patriotism, their common delight in the beautiful snow-dotted cityscape, and their excitement about the event. There is no real story, simply a linear progression toward the common goal (not revealed until the final few spreads), orchestrated smoothly enough so children won't ever miss knowing all the many characters by name. A glossary supplies guidance for pronouncing names, and a clear, nicely detailed overview of the process of naturalization rounds things out. Pictures and story combine to make the joy of the day contagious. Description from Booklist
See the City By David F. Marx	A boy and his family enjoy the sights of New York City, from cement sidewalks and ice skaters in the park to sparkling lights and dancing on a stage. Description from Publisher
Angel for Solomon Singer By Cynthia Rylant	Old Solomon lives alone in a dreary hotel on N.Y.C.'s Upper West Side, longing for things he can't have--a balcony, a picture window to see the birds, the freedom to paint his wall purple. Not loving where he lives, he wanders the streets, where he finds the Westway Cafe. He likes the name--it reminds him of his native Indiana; he responds to a friendly waiter's smile (whose name turns out to be Angel); and, pursuing his own dreams, he imagines ordering the things he yearns for along with the tomato soup. In time, this tenuous beginning transforms Solomon's outlook: he begins to enjoy the city lights, feels friendlier, and makes at least one dream come true by secretly adopting a cat. This tender vignette, narrated with eloquent simplicity, has appeal for almost any age; Catalanotto's empathetic watercolors extend (but certainly don't limit) the range to younger children. Using telling details and an evanescent blend of imagination and reality, as he did so effectively for Lyon's Cecil's Story, he poignantly evokes Solomon Singer's loneliness and poverty and the way one warm human contact changes him. A very special union of text and art in a memorable portrait of one lost old man who symbolizes many more. Description from Kirkus Reviews Solomon Singer is a middle-aged man who lives in a hotel for men in New York City. One night his solitary wanderings take him into a restaurant where he reads these words on the menu: ``The Westway Cafe -- where all your dreams come true. '' A soft-voiced waiter (metaphorically named Angel) welcomes him and invites him back. Each night Singer returns, ordering food and, silently, ordering his wishes for the things he remembers from an Indiana boyhood. Rylant has sketched a spare portrait, in flawless, graceful prose, of a man weighted down by hopelessness. Readers do not know the details of his circumstances, but they will feel his forlornness acutely. There is a symbolic and ambiguous quality to this book, which, despite its uplifting ending, is heightened by the illustrations. Catalanotto's signature watercolors have never been more affecting. He captures the smudgy nighttime murkiness of urban streets illuminated by artificial lights that float upward to become stars and bleed downward onto wet pavements to become a vision of midwestern wheat fields. This can be read as a familiar allegory in which the mysterious stranger represents the wish giver--the angel. It also works as a straightforward reminder that, in the face of staggering social problems, a smile in chance encounters has power. Not for the average story-hour crowd, but this title will be of great value to libraries in which whole language demands new creative uses for picture books for older readers, writers, and thinkers. Description from School Library Journal
One Present from Flekman's By Alan Arkin	As a treat, Grandpa tells Molly she can have one present from Flekman's, the largest toy store in New York City and possibly the world. Just one. But Flekman's has everything: stuffed camels and stuffed bears, dolls that walk and dolls that wet, indoor games and outdoor games. How can Molly choose only one present? Molly decides to try out a few toys. First she chooses a bear and takes it for a walk -- not quite right. Then decides on a camra -- so it takes pictures, so what? Pretty soon Grandpa finds her dressed as a pirate, piling up toys like a treasure. Then, when Flekman's Feaver is at its highest, Molly comes up with a crafty solution to her problim. What will Grandpa do when Molly decides she wants it all, she wants everything, she wants Flekman's! As a treat, Grandpa tells Molly she can have one present from Flekmans. Just one. But Flekmans has everything: stuffed camels and stuffed bears, dolls that walk and wet, indoor games and outdoor games. How can Molly choose only one present? She wants EVERYTHING! As Flekman fever rises, Molly is swinging from the chandeliers and Grandpa is tied up in knots until Molly finally finds a crafty solution to her problem. Description from Publisher
Nancy Drew Notebooks: Trouble Takes the Cake By Carolyn Keene	Nancy's aunt Eloise in New York City invites her, Bess, and George to spend the weekend. After a long day of sightseeing, the group ends up at Haunted Harriet's, a spooky theme restaurant. But real horror begins when a birthday cake explodes and oozes green slime, rubber worms, and fake spiders--and Nancy gets blamed for it! With one illustration per chapter, these easy-to-read stories for kids in grades two through four revolve around events and feelings that the kids easily understand. Description from Publisher
Tom By Daniel Torres	Tom is not your average tourist. When he sneezes, he blows the leaves off every tree in Central Park. When he walks downtown, he snarls traffic. And he sleeps on top of the Empire State Building! But Tom loves the big city, and he's determined to land a job there. Can he find a way to fit in? Torres's snappy text and sleek, comic book-style illustrations reminiscent of Tintin and Where's Waldo? are sure to delight readers young and old. Description from Publisher Meet Tom. On the book's jacket the dinosaur sits above the New York skyline, hugging a building and looking like a prehistoric King Kong. Torres' considerable skills as an illustrator are evident throughout his clever tale of a friendly dino who tries to make it in the Big Apple, without much initial success. Most of the humor comes from the wonderful pictures that feature Tom wandering through crowds of jaded New Yorkers (every type from homeless to Hasidic Jew is in evidence); they don't even look twice at the huge dinosaur among them. But when Tom makes a new friend, a boy whose father is an art critic, things change. Tom uses his enormous feet to make footprint "art" ; his friend's dad makes him a star, and now everyone in New York wants to meet Tom. The story goes on too long, and some of the humor will be over the heads of the intended audience--it's adults who will chuckle over the drawbacks of fame. Yet Torres never entirely loses sight of his child readers, usually making sure the story can be enjoyed at several levels. Torres, the author of six graphic novels, makes a memorable picture-book debut. Description from Booklist Torres's first book is a big tribute to New York City and a little satire about the superficiality of the public's taste in art, wrapped in a story about a dinosaur. Unlike his predecessor Dinosaur Bob, Tom has no family Lazardo to smooth his way in a new land, until he meets Billy. The boy is the driving force behind Tom's rise as a pop artist and a compassionate friend when it is time for the dinosaur, his eyes to the sea, to sail. This is a book for the eyes, and Manhattan is its star in page after page of extraordinarily complicated, extremely precise cityscapes. Dozens of comic scenes take place at once; many of the illustrations are really little more than highly detailed architectural drawings with a dinosaur in the middle. The pictures amaze and astonish, whether readers follow the mild story or not. Then again, this book is supposed to be about art, so maybe the words don't matter. Description from Kirkus Reviews
Nessie's Manhattan Holiday By Margaret McGarrahan	Nessie loves the Big City - there's so much to see and do - but she's dismayed to learn that there seems to be a 'No Barking' rule for city dogs. Sometimes a little dog has to bark! What else can she do when her first elevator ride tickles her tummy, when she wants to join her family in the playground, and when Kitty is about to fall into the Model Boat Pond? Nessie saves the day with a well-timed WOOF! and proves that she really is "the darlingest dog!" Description from Publisher
The Doorman By Edward Grimm	John, the doorman in a big, old New York City apartment house, knows all the residents: he greets the children as they scoot off to school, gets a cab for an elderly person with a broken arm, and remembers that it's Nellie's birthday and her classmates and the cake will arrive later in the day. He makes sure mail and packages are taken care of and that repair people know where to go. He is a part of the lives of everyone in his building. The routine of life ends with great tenderness. One day John doesn't come; the tenants are told he has died. The residents mourn him, and his replacement wants to keep people feeling as "safe and happy" as John did. Grimm's conversational cadences are based on the true story of the beloved doorman of his own building, and Lewin's signature burnished colors get the ambience perfectly, right down to the telling details of John's blue and gold uniform, the lobby's marble floor pattern, and the children's animated faces. Description from Booklist The highlight of this affectionate tribute to a New York City doorman is Lewin's (Peppe the Lamplighter) lifelike art. With nearly photographic clarity, his watercolors depict the comings and goings of an apartment house's residents and the daily routine of their beloved doorman, John. Setting the story in his own Upper West Side building, first-time children's author Grimm shapes a poignant portrait. Kind, conscientious John "felt responsible for everyone who lived there--as if he were the captain of a ship." The doorman is especially fond of the elderly and very young tenants, because "they were the ones he could do the most for." Residents are shocked and saddened when John suffers a fatal heart attack, but his legacy lives on. Young readers lucky enough to know a doorman like John will appreciate the homage; non-city-dwellers may find the setting appealingly exotic. And observant kids will enjoy spotting Lewin and Grimm in cameo appearances (depicted as a painter and a tenant, respectively). Description from Publishers Weekly
Grandma's Records By Eric Velasquez	Making his authorial debut, Velasquez (The Piano Man) proves himself adept at evoking time and place as well as a loving family bond. The narrator spends his boyhood summers at his grandmother's apartment in Spanish Harlem, where Grandma introduces him to the sounds of merengue and conga, dances with him and tells stories of growing up in Puerto Rico. Whenever she plays one special song, she puts her hand over her heart. Sometimes the boy sketches album covers, sometimes musicians come to visit, but the highlight of the summer is hearing "the best band in Puerto Rico" (Raphael Cortijo's combo) at a big theater in the Bronx. When the lead singer dedicates his grandmother's favorite song to her, the boy is surprised to see the whole audience put their hands over their hearts. Later, he learns that the gesture "show[s] that their hearts remain in Puerto Rico even though they may be far away." In the end, the boy is an adult, shown illustrating this book and listening to a CD, hand over heart. Velasquez comfortably introduces Spanish phrases, adds notes about real-life musicians and offers an aesthetically pleasing array of period album covers on the endpapers. His illustrations are realistic but quiet, toned down in their depiction of Grandma and her tidy, neutral decor the music here emanates from the words. Description from Publishers Weekly Each year, a boy spends the summer with his grandmother in her apartment in Spanish Harlem. Grandma loves music, and her extensive record collection provides hours of pleasure. Selecting music to share with her and sketching art from album covers are frequent activities. One special summer, Grandma is given two tickets to a live concert by a nephew, a percussionist in a well-known Puerto Rican band. When the lead singer dedicates the last song to her, the child is surprised to see everyone singing "Grandma's special song" ("In My Old San Juan") with eyes closed and a hand placed over the heart. Later he understands that this act symbolizes "that their hearts remain in Puerto Rico even though they may be far away." Finally, he is pictured as an adult in his studio honoring his grandmother and her music through his art. Velasquez's touching yet simply told memoir of this tender relationship is lovingly captured in his illustrations. The old woman's dignity and spunk are etched in her face while her housecoat and slippers, framed photos from long ago, and console phonograph create a distinct sense of time and place. Add this to your study of memoir and be sure to read it aloud in celebration of grandparents and the children they love. You'll be glad you did. Description from School Library Journal Velasquez relates his personal experience as a young boy who spent summers with his grandmother in 1950s Spanish Harlem, where Grandma wrapped me in her world of music." As merengues and salsas played all through the long, hot summer, Grandma would dance and tell Eric about her life in Puerto Rico. One day, Grandma's nephew Sammy, who plays percussion in the best band in Puerto Rico, comes to town for a concert. He surprises Grandma and Eric with tickets to the show. The concert proves to be "a magical moment in time" for Eric, and particularly for Grandma, whose special song, "In My Old San Juan," is sung directly to her. The song, which describes the sadness and uncertainties of leaving Puerto Rico for a foreign country, is reproduced at the book's end in both Spanish and English. Rich oil paintings lovingly depict the special times in Grandma's New York apartment and the excitement of the live concert. Short biographies of the band's three famous members add to the book's value as a resource for a study of the Puerto Rican culture. Desciption from Booklist
Los Discos De Mi Abuela By Eric Velasquez (Spanish)	Every summer Eric stays with his Grandma in New York's El barrio. They listen to her amazing record collection and dance salsa. Eric and his Grandma go to see a live performance of their favorite band, which proves to be a memory to last a lifetime. This touching story of a relationship that bridges generations is as beautiful to look at as it is lyrical to read. Description from Publisher
Molly and the Magic Dress By Billy Norwich	Molly doesn’t want to go to her cousin’s stuffy society wedding. She’ll be bored—as always. Worse, her mother insists that she wear a starchy velvet dress. Molly obliges, but also packs into her book bag her favorite dress—a tattered magic one that allows her to become anyone she wishes. Molly knows that the only way she’ll have any fun is by making quick getaways from the hoity-toity celebration and the la-di-da conversation of her relatives. And the magic dress doesn’t disappoint! It transports Molly into unexpected adventures of the spirit and the heart. If you believe in the magic dress, anything is possible. . . . Description from Publisher Molly, a lonely child of New York's high society, dotes on her elegantly thin cat and uses a ragged magic dress to whisk to mini-adventures such as speaking as mayor and climbing a mountainous wedding cake. These antics are a convenient escape from the superficial adults who surround her. Mom obsesses over a tres chic wardrobe; her decorator friend, "Uncle" Todd, joins them for Cousin Lydia's wedding. The great-aunts speak "as if they had mashed potatoes stuck to the roofs of their mouths." Molly manages to handle limousines and adult expectations with aplomb, actually grounding everyone a bit when she allows her magic dress to transform a homeless woman into a queen. Adults will revel in the wacky, retro cartoons; Miller shows no mercy for the foibles of the hoity-toity and keeps the layouts as busy as Molly's life. Older children will appreciate Norwich's fun turn of phrase, but the humor is reserved for adults. Description from School Library Journal
Lad, a Dog: Lad Is Lost By Margo Lundell	After being separated from his owners and lost in New York City, the beloved collie Lad endures such harrowing experiences as being chased by a police officer, nearly drowning, and being attacked by a vicious dog. Description from Publisher To retell Albert Payson Terhune's story of Lad, his collie, and to retell it for the "Hello Reader!" series is a challenge that author Margo Lundell meets well with tight, clean text. The illustrations of blue-ribbon Lad portray a silky, friendly-looking collie, loved and cared for by master and mistress. This story begins happily, then leads into an all-too-frequent problem: the family pet gets lost. Through no fault of his own, Lad gets separated from his owners and endures discomfort and pain; is accused wrongfully and chased; is afraid; suffers fatigue and cold. In reality, children, too, suffer many of these same feelings in one form or another. Therefore, the young reader can identify with the main character both on an emotional level, as well as with the story of one couple's dog who gets lost. Lad is a hero from the beginning of the story to its end. As a champion, he's well behaved. He's adored and admired. He's loyal and friendly. He knows the right things to do in and out of trouble. He keeps going when things become dark and lonely. In the end, he wins by finding his way home. Through reading this version of the story of Lad, a child may discover not only a champion of a dog but also discover the champion of a reader he is within himself. Description from Children's Literature
Lad, a Dog: Best Dog in the World By Margo Lundell	Whisked away from his country estate to compete in a dog show in New York City, Lad is confused and unhappy and wishes only to go home. Description from Publisher
Bebop-A-Do-Walk! By Sheila Hamanaka	Emi and her best friend, Martha, take a long, joyful walk with Emi's father from their Lower East Side neighborhood in New York City. Emi is Japanese American, Martha is African American, and Hamanaka is remembering her own 1950s childhood. The friends ride the carousel in Central Park; they almost see King Kong on the top of the Empire State Building; they gape at the Museum of Modern Art; they imagine the clubs where the great jazz heroes made music. When a rich kid won't let them near his toy sailboat, Emi's father folds origami paper boats for all the kids to sail on the pond, and he also makes paper hats and paper cranes for everyone. There's not much story, just the idyllic memory; but Hamanaka's exuberant acrylic paintings capture the city close-up from many perspectives as Emi has fun with her friends and neighbors from everywhere. Description from Booklist Bebop-a-Do-Walk! delivers the freshness and energy that its title implies. Hamanaka sets the scene with a description of the New York of her childhood-the Lower East Side in the 1950s. On the day on which this story takes place, Emi and her best friend accompany Emi's father on a long walk. As they begin the trek that will take them to Central Park, it seems that the whole neighborhood turns out to give them a proper send off. Emi's father has people to see all along the way, and the trip takes them to landmarks such as Washington Square Park, the Empire State Building, the Museum of Modern Art, and, at last, Central Park. Hamanaka captures the girls' childlike wonder by involving all of the senses, and her description of Central Park is well worth the walk. The outing concludes with a bus trip home. Hamanaka's art is as full as the wonderful day she describes, leaving no room for white space. The text is backed by pastels and black, both of which highlight the interesting typeface and frame the energetic art. The friendship between Emi (Asian) and Martha (Black), along with their ethnically rich yet close-knit neighborhood, provides an affirming look at city life. Description from School Library Journal
Babar a New York By Laurent de Brunhoff	French Edition
A Simple Wish By Jennifer Dussling	All the action, magic and humor of The Bubble Factory's bewitching new movie about a fumbling, bumbling apprentice fairy godmother--played by Martin Short!--comes to life in these enchanting movie tie-in titles available in three popular formats. Description from Publisher
Godzilla By Kimberley Weinberger	Is it Thunder-or Footsteps? A devastating, blinding flash lights up the sky above a Polynesian atoll. The island is no more. All that is left is a towering mushroom cloud that slowly drifts away. The Pacific Ocean boils and churns though there is no storm in sight. A fish-processing ship goes down, leaving only a single survivor: a catatonic sailor, too terrified to speak. Gigantic footprints plow an ominous path through the Panamanian rain forest, crossing the isthmus from west to east and disappearing into the Atlantic Ocean. Off the North Carolina coast, a ship suddenly capsizes and is dragged under the sea. An inexorable wave of destruction, incessant and mysterious, is heading north, toward a tiny, densely populated island called Manhattan! In the motion picture event of the decade, the blockbuster filmmaker Dean Devlin adn Roland Emmerich bring the biggest monster of all time to the screen: Godzilla! As the towering terror methodically dismantles Manhattan, nuclear scientist Nick Tatopolous is called in to do what the combined forces of the U.S. Army and Air Force can't. Stop him! Nick's only hope -- and New York's last chance -- is to join forces with Phillipe Roache, an enigmatic insurance investigator leading a team of odd characters who are assessing the damages even as they occur. Neither team leader trusts the other, but they must bury their differences fast, before the marauding monster buries Manhattan under its own rubble. For like a genie from the bottle, Godzilla came to life with three wishes and all three are coming true: Destroy! Destroy! Destroy! Capturing all the terror and grandeur of the spectacular film from the creators of the smash hit Independence Day, this exciting novelization straight from the screenplay brings to life the most awesome movie monster ever. Godzilla is here in all his gruesome glory. He's about to reach out and touch someone. Pray it isn't you. Description from Publisher
Attack of the Baby Godzillas By Gina Shaw	Movie stills from the TriStar Pictures spring release relate the story of the most famous movie monster in the world. Godzilla has chosen the Big Apple as home for his newly hatched Baby Godzillas! Among those hot on his trail are Nick, a handsome scientist; Audrey, his ex-girlfriend and a novice reporter; and Animal, a daredevil cameraman. Description from Publisher
Hail to Mail By Samuel Marshak	From New York City to Boise, Idaho, to Switzerland to the shores of Brazil, a certified letter, carried by a succession of unflagging mailmen, chases Mr. Peck around the globe until at last it catches up with him--back in New York, of course. Full color. A Reading Rainbow selection. Description from Publisher A New York mail carrier attempts to deliver a certified letter, but, he is informed, John Peck left yesterday for Idaho. Although the letter follows him around the world, it always just misses him, until he finally receives it when he returns to New York. Description from Horn Book
Babar a New York By Laurent De Brunhoff	French Version
Tina's Diner By JoAnn Adinolfi	Juicy hamburgers and pancakes luffier than pillowsreign supreme in Tina's popular diner until the sink gets clogged. The young narrator searches high and low to secure the services of J. P. Pettifog, he best plumber in New York City.Zany, whimsical, and brightly colored pastel illustrations. Description from Horn Book When the sink is clogged at Tina's diner, the frantic search for J. P. Pettifog, the best plumber in town, takes the reader through the city's skyscrapers, museum, and even down into the sewers. Description from Publisher Adinolfi's (My Teacher's Secret Life) lighthearted excursion contains a bit of mystery (where is a plumber when you need one?) and zippy pastel-toned art. Tina's smoothly run diner has a little problema clogged sinkand while her burgers may be juicy and the pancakes always fluffier than pillows, without free-flowing water the diner grinds to a halt. As the dirty dishes pile up, Tina calls J.P. Pettifog, the best plumber in New York City, who is out of the office. The rest of the story follows the young narrator, who dashes off to Manhattan to find J.P. The stylized illustrations, with their topsy-turvy perspectives and cartoony characters, portray a diner setting circa 1950 (a la Happy Days), speeding urban vehicles (subways, ferries, helicopters and more), off-kilter skyscrapers, a Chinese pagoda andto top it all offa playful underground plumbing fantasy, complete with a crew of uniformed alligators. Tones of lemon yellow, cotton-candy pink and celery green radiate off the page and contribute mightily to the frenetic pace of the story, as well as highlight the multitude of clever visual plot accessories (Adinolfi decorates her skyscrapers with water pipes; the dishes and glasses are crazily stacked as if in a vaudeville routine). A whimsical adventure story that will leave many readers yearning for one of Tina's diner delights. Description from Publishers Weekly Tina serves exceptionally delicious food at her diner, but when her sink stops up, catastrophe looms for her many eager patrons. She calls for help but gets only the plumber's answering machine. An enterprising young boy sets out to track down J.P. Pettifog. He rides the ferry, clambers along huge pipes, hitches a ride on a helicopter, and skateboards through the big city until he finally locates the plumber working down in the smelly, slimy sewer with hard-hatted alligators as assistants. Then it's off to the rescue, and Tina's dishes sparkle once again. Wild, double-page, mixed-media, cartoon-style artwork features odd perspectives and bright pastel colors. Swirling figures, tilting towers, and intricate plumbing surround the text, which is done in varied styles and colors. The most amusing part of the story is when the famous plumber turns out to be a young woman with snaky brown braids wearing green coveralls, but there's a lot to see on every lively page. Description from School Library Journal
Hilary and the Lions By Frank Desaix	Ainsley and Rollo, the majestic, marble lions guarding the New York Public Library, come to life one magical night to help a young tourist find her parents. Description from Publisher In this picture book fantasy, Hilary visits New York City for the first time with her parents. She becomes separated from them, and settles down at the feet of one of the stone lions in front of the New York Public Library, waiting to be found. Hilary dozes and then awakens to find that the lions have come to life. She is given a magical ride through the deserted nighttime streets of Manhattan as the lions return her to her parents. Description from School Library Journal
Max and the Baby-Sitter By Danielle Steel	Max is four years old and lives in New York. His Mommy is a nurse, and his Daddy is a fireman, so he has to spend each day at his baby-sitter's. But her house is cold, and Max is afraid of her cat. Finally, one day, Max tells his parents how he feels. They don't want him to be unhappy, so they start looking for a new baby-sitter. And it isn't long before they find the perfect one. She even has a puppy. Mother of nine, Danielle Steel understands children's feelings, and with warmth and tenderness shows how parents can help children banish their fears. Description from Publisher
We're Back!: A Dinosaur's Story By Hudson Talbott	What happens when scientists from outer space test a new brain-developing product on dinosaurs, educate them, and drop them off in the middle of Manhattan's Thanksgiving Day Parade? Those five and up will adore the off-beat humor of this prehistoric tour de force. Description from Parents Magazine Vorb hangs down from a flying saucer and offers some dinosaurs the break of a lifetime; he's from Mega-Mind Inc. and is test-marketing a new product, Brain Grainwith an extra special bonus prize and free snacks. With Brain Grain, a dinosaur first experiences a "new me" and, eventually, a "new us." The prize? A drop into midtown Manhattan in the 20th century. Destination: Dr. Bleeb's Museum of Natural History. The gang parades in a Thanksgiving celebration but soon they're discovered to be real out-of-towners and are chased all the way to the museum, where they're saved by Dr. Bleeb. Those who think original dinosaur books are extinct are going to change their minds with this one. A very welcome bunch of monsters has landed in kids' laps; Talbot's prehistoric characters exhibit real stage presence, from the glint in their eyes to the way they slather over those snacks. Description from Publishers Weekly
Men in Black By James Patrick	A beginning reader's edition of the story based on the Columbia Pictures summer release places two Men in Black (MiB) partners in a race against time to stop alien terrorists from destroying the planet Earth. Description from Publisher
My Dog Is Lost! By Ezra Jack Keats & Pat Cherr	Juanito, who speaks only Spanish, has just arrived in New York from Puerto Rico--and he's lost his dog. Searching through the city, he meets children from Chinatown, Little Italy, Park Avenue, and Harlem and manages to make his problem clear to all of them in spite of language difficulties. Lively pictures in brilliant red and black illustrate this entertaining reissue. Description from Horn Book One of the first books Keats ever wrote, My Dog Is Lost! is an appealing story about a Spanish-speaking boy on his second day in New York City, struggling to find his lost dog. Effortlessly mixing Spanish phrases with their English counterparts, this bilingual book is just as relevant today as it was when it was first published more than 30 years ago. Description from Publisher
Mendel's Ladder By Mark Karlins	On the 61st rainless day of the summer, 7-year-old Mendel Moskowitz takes action to save his plants and vegetables. He builds a ladder to the clouds as his family and neighbors watch with amusement and disbelief. When he and his parents climb the ladder, they meet the disgusted Rainmaker, Maxwell Butterbarrel, who refuses to do his job until he is appreciated. Mendel saves the day (and the plants) by giving him a bag of candies. Then they all fly through the sky with ``sparkler wheels'' as the rain comes pouring down. The author has captured the speech and ambiance of Brooklyn's Jewish community, although the story is not specific to one ethnic group and has a wide appeal. The monoprint paintings are large, clearly defined, and add to the fanciful nature of the story. The double-page spread of lightning flashing over New York City is especially attractive. A wonderful read-aloud choice. Description from School Library Journal
Time to Go House (New York Classics) By Walter D. Edmonds	This children's classic spins a charming tale of adventure and romance when the field mice leave the meadow to "go house" for the winter and Smalleata falls in love with house mouse Raffles. Description from Publisher

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