The Trip 
Author/Illustrator: Ezra Jack Keats
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pub. Date: 1978

The Trip by Ezra Jack Keats is one of the lesser known titles by this great children's book author/illustrator. I came across it quite by accident in our local library and was delighted to discover it just in time for Halloween. Frankly, I had all but dispaired of finding a good urban picture book with a Halloween element.

Louie has just moved into a new apartment. Since he doesn't have any friend yet so he retreats to his room and builds a diorama. Using his imagination, Louie flies through the miniature world he has constructed, meeting up with friends he misses. It is Halloween and and he takes his costumed friends on a plane trip through his former neighborhood. When his mom's voice and cries of "Trick or treat!" make their way through the wall of Louie's imagination, he ventures outside to discover some new friends waiting for him.

Keats' book works on so many levels, it is a shame it is out of print. It is story of friendship, of loneliness, artistic creativity and of the power of imagination all wrapped into one. Keats' trademark illustrative style shines as he transports us from a real world grounded by oil paints to the imaginary one of collage, photographs, crayon drawings and marbled skies.

As in all of Keats' books, the urban landscape is essential to the story's world. Skyscrapers full of windows are the backdrop for Louie's imaginary world and his apartment building frames his reality. The opening page reminds us just how much of the urban life revolves around street activity when Louie is disappointed to discover, "there weren't even any steps in front of the door to sit on." How is an urban kid to make friends if he has no stoop from which to survey the world!  When you see the world from this perspective Halloween becomes the perfect holiday to introduce him to the neighborhood. After all, is there any other holiday in which so much of the celebration takes place outside on the sidewalks?

Despite this book being out of print, I bet it The Trip is in many libraries around the country, thanks to its famous author. Check out a copy before Halloween. You won't be sorry you did.

Highly Recommended.

Want More?
Visit the official website of the Ezra Jack Keats foundation. Here is the page for The Trip.
In NYC, The Jewish Museum had Keats exhibit. You can read about his art here.
Louie appears in other Keats books, including Louie's Search, Louie and Regards to the Man in the Moon.
Watch some kids talk about the book:

Add a Comment

A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple
Illustrator: Masha D'yans
Editors: Teachers and Writers Collaborative
Publisher: Universe Publishing (Rizzoli)
Pub. Date: September 4, 2012

I am so pleased to be able to tell you today about a very unique poetry book.

The Teachers & Writers Collaborative, an organization that helps children develop their creative writing skills, led a series of workshops in public schools and libraries across New York City. The children who participated worked on writing poems about what it's like to live in The Big Apple.  The resulting poems, "stacks of poems on hundreds of loose leaf pages" as adapter Melanie Maria Gooreaux described them in the introduction, were collected and edited to create one big poem. The result is the marvelous A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple. 

The overall feeling of A Poem as Big as New York City is joyous. It is clear that the authors love their city. A smiling, curious anthropomorphous Poem is the thread that holds the poem's story together.  In the image below you can see the "Poem" illustrated as a graphic character formed out of words taken from the poem itself.


The Poem travels through the five boroughs of the city, narrating its journey, sometimes in the third person,

The poem walked by the East River and reached up
to touch a pink-and-white striped sky.
It passed by the Chrysler Building,
and it looked like a wealthy woman
who just couldn't hide her jewels.

and sometimes in the first person,

I jumped inside a parking meter
and heard the soul of New York City
crunching like quarters.

but always celebrating the uniqueness of the city: the sounds, sights, smells and even the taste.

The journey of the Poem somehow manages to be both magical and realistic, individual and collective. It celebrates the diversity of New York City's people, places and experiences. There's an exhilarating sense of movement throughout the lines as the reader is carried along with the Poem through the streets, underground and above the skyscrapers. I love the final image of the Poem in front of the New York Public Library. The Poem is reading a book, the cover of which is a diverse group of faces. It is as if one can never get enough; instead of being exhausted by the action and excitement, the Poem (and the reader) just wants more.

Masha D'yans's beautiful watercolor illustrations are both ethereal and vibrant, if that is possible, and effectively capture the jubliant quality of the poem. It is hard not to smile as we see the Poem lounge on the grass of Central Park, swing through the sky on the suspension lines of Brooklyn Bridge, and munch on a black and white cookie during a shopping trip. How she managed to make two black circles look like so inquisitive is a feat in and of itself.


The perfect final touch is the credit page at the end of the book in which the names of participating libraries and school are arranged to resemble a cityscape, as if to remind us that the children are what make up the the city.

I know this book will be loved by New York City residents and I hope it finds an audience beyond that because it's a great ambassador for the city.

Want More?
Visit the Teachers & Writers Collaborative website to learn about their writing workshops and programs.
Read other reviews at Great Kid Books, Where the Best Books Are, and NC Teacher Stuff,
Visit the illustrator's website (you can see more artwork from the book here).

Special thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy of the book.

Add a Comment

A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple
Illustrator: Masha D'yans
Editors: Teachers and Writers Collaborative
Publisher: Universe Publishing (Rizzoli)
Pub. Date: September 4, 2012

I am so pleased to be able to tell you today about a very unique poetry book.

The Teachers & Writers Collaborative, an organization that helps children develop their creative writing skills, led a series of workshops in public schools and libraries across New York City. The children who participated worked on writing poems about what it's like to live in The Big Apple.  The resulting poems, "stacks of poems on hundreds of loose leaf pages" as adapter Melanie Maria Gooreaux described them in the introduction, were collected and edited to create one big poem. The result is the marvelous A Poem as Big as New York City: Little Kids Write About the Big Apple. 

The overall feeling of A Poem as Big as New York City is joyous. It is clear that the authors love their city. A smiling, curious anthropomorphous Poem is the thread that holds the poem's story together.  In the image below you can see the "Poem" illustrated as a graphic character formed out of words taken from the poem itself.


The Poem travels through the five boroughs of the city, narrating its journey, sometimes in the third person,

The poem walked by the East River and reached up
to touch a pink-and-white striped sky.
It passed by the Chrysler Building,
and it looked like a wealthy woman
who just couldn't hide her jewels.

and sometimes in the first person,

I jumped inside a parking meter
and heard the soul of New York City
crunching like quarters.

but always celebrating the uniqueness of the city: the sounds, sights, smells and even the taste.

The journey of the Poem somehow manages to be both magical and realistic, individual and collective. It celebrates the diversity of New York City's people, places and experiences. There's an exhilarating sense of movement throughout the lines as the reader is carried along with the Poem through the streets, underground and above the skyscrapers. I love the final image of the Poem in front of the New York Public Library. The Poem is reading a book, the cover of which is a diverse group of faces. It is as if one can never get enough; instead of being exhausted by the action and excitement, the Poem (and the reader) just wants more.

Masha D'yans's beautiful watercolor illustrations are both ethereal and vibrant, if that is possible, and effectively capture the jubliant quality of the poem. It is hard not to smile as we see the Poem lounge on the grass of Central Park, swing through the sky on the suspension lines of Brooklyn Bridge, and munch on a black and white cookie during a shopping trip. How she managed to make two black circles look like so inquisitive is a feat in and of itself.


The perfect final touch is the credit page at the end of the book in which the names of participating libraries and school are arranged to resemble a cityscape, as if to remind us that the children are what make up the the city.

I know this book will be loved by New York City residents and I hope it finds an audience beyond that because it's a great ambassador for the city.

Want More?
Visit the Teachers & Writers Collaborative website to learn about their writing workshops and programs.
Read other reviews at Great Kid Books, Where the Best Books Are, and NC Teacher Stuff,
Visit the illustrator's website (you can see more artwork from the book here).

Special thanks to the publisher for sending me a review copy of the book.

Add a Comment

Applesauce Season 
Author: Eden Ross Lipson
Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein
Pub. Date: 08/04/09
Pub.: Roaring Book Press

Fall is marching on, but it's not too late to make applesauce!

A boy looks forward every year to fall, when his entire family gathers to make applesauce. The young narrator takes us through the entire journey, from market to kitchen to table describing how the applesauce changes throughout the season, how his family eats the applesauce and even how he imagines he will eat applesauce when he is grown up.

What I like most about Applesauce Season is there is no trip to a rural apple farm and absolutely no sense that this is a cause for mourning. The book opens thus:

We live in the city. There are no apple trees, but there are farmers' markets where there are lots of apples. Sometimes my grandmother goes to the market, sometimes my mom and dad go, sometimes my big sisters. If I don't have soccer, I go, too.

Obtaining apples from the farmers' market, freshly picked for urban families, is presented as a perfectly legitimate and joyful event.   The title page illustration are of the characters looking out at the cityscape dreaming of apples in anticipation, the young narrator races out of school to meet his grandma and a beautiful two page spread of the market with the cityscape in the background is lively and complete with dogs straining at their leashes. Gerstein's reputation as an illustrator is firmly established and the overall impression from his sparkling watercolors is good, old-fashioned cheer. In almost every single tableau, the people are  smiling, and it's hard not to join them by the time you've finished reading this book.

Big Kid says: (Taking book away) Let me see all those kinds of apples...
Little Kid says: I like red apples best.

Want More?
Visit the illustrator's website.
Read about the author at the NY Times: Remambering Eden Ross Lipson (includes artwork from this book).
Read a review at the NY Times or Waking Brain Cells.

Add a Comment

Applesauce Season 
Author: Eden Ross Lipson
Illustrator: Mordicai Gerstein
Pub. Date: 08/04/09
Pub.: Roaring Book Press

Fall is marching on, but it's not too late to make applesauce!

A boy looks forward every year to fall, when his entire family gathers to make applesauce. The young narrator takes us through the entire journey, from market to kitchen to table describing how the applesauce changes throughout the season, how his family eats the applesauce and even how he imagines he will eat applesauce when he is grown up.

What I like most about Applesauce Season is there is no trip to a rural apple farm and absolutely no sense that this is a cause for mourning. The book opens thus:

We live in the city. There are no apple trees, but there are farmers' markets where there are lots of apples. Sometimes my grandmother goes to the market, sometimes my mom and dad go, sometimes my big sisters. If I don't have soccer, I go, too.

Obtaining apples from the farmers' market, freshly picked for urban families, is presented as a perfectly legitimate and joyful event.   The title page illustration are of the characters looking out at the cityscape dreaming of apples in anticipation, the young narrator races out of school to meet his grandma and a beautiful two page spread of the market with the cityscape in the background is lively and complete with dogs straining at their leashes. Gerstein's reputation as an illustrator is firmly established and the overall impression from his sparkling watercolors is good, old-fashioned cheer. In almost every single tableau, the people are  smiling, and it's hard not to join them by the time you've finished reading this book.

Big Kid says: (Taking book away) Let me see all those kinds of apples...
Little Kid says: I like red apples best.

Want More?
Visit the illustrator's website.
Read about the author at the NY Times: Remambering Eden Ross Lipson (includes artwork from this book).
Read a review at the NY Times or Waking Brain Cells.

Add a Comment

Max Found Two Sticks
Author/Illustrator: Brian Pinkney
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: 1994


When the wind blows two sticks in bored Max's direction one day, the young boy discovers they make wonderful drumsticks. Tapping the sticks on his thighs, boxes, trash cans and soda bottles, Max pounds out the rhythms of his neighborhood. When a marching band passes by, one of the band members sees Max's talent and tosses him a pair of real drumsticks. Max never misses a beat.

Pinkney's Max Found Two Sticks is an engaging story that should be on every child's reading list. Although Max stays in and around his brownstone stoop, Pinkey effectively captures the vibrancy of a neighborhood by merging the musical, natural and urban worlds with his energetic text and illustrations.

The text of the book reminded me of "call and response" songs. In this case, Max's response to everyone's question, "what are you doing with those sticks?" is to tap out a rhythm with his sticks. No doubt this book is used in music classes everywhere.

Want More?
Visit the author's website.
Miniature drummers might also enjoy Drum City.

Add a Comment

Max Found Two Sticks
Author/Illustrator: Brian Pinkney
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Publishing Date: 1994


When the wind blows two sticks in bored Max's direction one day, the young boy discovers they make wonderful drumsticks. Tapping the sticks on his thighs, boxes, trash cans and soda bottles, Max pounds out the rhythms of his neighborhood. When a marching band passes by, one of the band members sees Max's talent and tosses him a pair of real drumsticks. Max never misses a beat.

Pinkney's Max Found Two Sticks is an engaging story that should be on every child's reading list. Although Max stays in and around his brownstone stoop, Pinkey effectively captures the vibrancy of a neighborhood by merging the musical, natural and urban worlds with his energetic text and illustrations.

The text of the book reminded me of "call and response" songs. In this case, Max's response to everyone's question, "what are you doing with those sticks?" is to tap out a rhythm with his sticks. No doubt this book is used in music classes everywhere.

Want More?
Visit the author's website.
Miniature drummers might also enjoy Drum City.

Add a Comment

The Invisible Man by Arthur Yorinks.

At his corner stand, Sy sells fruit to cure every ailment,  but when he self-medicates with some prunes Sy wakes up to find himself growing increasingly paler. The now invisible Sy is shunned by society, and worse still becomes the scapegoat for all of the world's unfortunate and unexplainable incidents! After stints in various occupations and a bit of jail time, Sy finally takes on a job as a magician's assistant. When a disappointed audience responds to his failure on stage by pummeling him with produce, Sy's faith in the healing power of fruit is restored.

The Invisible Man is a fun story, though not as mischievously absurd as I would have expected a children's picture book about invisibility to be. Yorinks seems to have decided that the idea of fruit with magical healing properties was all the cleverness one picture book could handle. That's a bit disappointing but Doug Cushman's illustrations add a some extra liveliness. The city is primarily represented through silhouetted skylines behind Sy's greengrocer stand, though a clever illustration of the invisible Sy wrapped in his bathrobe scaring a pigeon off his apartment windowsill adds an alternative perspective.

Most children at some point in their youthful careers imagine what it might be like to be invisible and this is an enjoyable enough book to search it out at the library.

Want More?
Yorinks Theater Group did a collaborative theater project with The Greene Space based on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man.
Visit the illustrator's website.

Add a Comment

The Invisible Man by Arthur Yorinks.

At his corner stand, Sy sells fruit to cure every ailment,  but when he self-medicates with some prunes Sy wakes up to find himself growing increasingly paler. The now invisible Sy is shunned by society, and worse still becomes the scapegoat for all of the world's unfortunate and unexplainable incidents! After stints in various occupations and a bit of jail time, Sy finally takes on a job as a magician's assistant. When a disappointed audience responds to his failure on stage by pummeling him with produce, Sy's faith in the healing power of fruit is restored.

The Invisible Man is a fun story, though not as mischievously absurd as I would have expected a children's picture book about invisibility to be. Yorinks seems to have decided that the idea of fruit with magical healing properties was all the cleverness one picture book could handle. That's a bit disappointing but Doug Cushman's illustrations add a some extra liveliness. The city is primarily represented through silhouetted skylines behind Sy's greengrocer stand, though a clever illustration of the invisible Sy wrapped in his bathrobe scaring a pigeon off his apartment windowsill adds an alternative perspective.

Most children at some point in their youthful careers imagine what it might be like to be invisible and this is an enjoyable enough book to search it out at the library.

Want More?
Yorinks Theater Group did a collaborative theater project with The Greene Space based on H.G. Wells' The Invisible Man.
Visit the illustrator's website.

Add a Comment

Robert Neubecker's Wow! City! was an ALA Notable Book in 2004, but unfortunately is now out of print. This is too bad because it is a great book for toddlers who might be about to visit the city for the first time.

The book is huge, measuring 10 x 20 inches, when open. Although the illustrations are obviously inspired by New York City, the minimalist text is not city-specific. Each two page spread contains only two words:"Wow!" and whatever the featured sight is: "Wow! Taxi!" or Wow! Lights!", etc. Nuebecker's vibrant illustrations effectively convey the narrator's enthusiasm for the sights and sounds of her urban vacation. He varies the perspective from up close to far way and even through a car window.

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this one.

Want More?
Neubecker wrote a couple of other "Wow!" books, including Wow! Ocean! and Wow! America!
Watch an interview with the author.
Visit the author's website.

Add a Comment

Robert Neubecker's Wow! City! was an ALA Notable Book in 2004, but unfortunately is now out of print. This is too bad because it is a great book for toddlers who might be about to visit the city for the first time.

The book is huge, measuring 10 x 20 inches, when open. Although the illustrations are obviously inspired by New York City, the minimalist text is not city-specific. Each two page spread contains only two words:"Wow!" and whatever the featured sight is: "Wow! Taxi!" or Wow! Lights!", etc. Nuebecker's vibrant illustrations effectively convey the narrator's enthusiasm for the sights and sounds of her urban vacation. He varies the perspective from up close to far way and even through a car window.

Toddlers and preschoolers will love this one.

Want More?
Neubecker wrote a couple of other "Wow!" books, including Wow! Ocean! and Wow! America!
Watch an interview with the author.
Visit the author's website.

Add a Comment

Lilian Moore celebrates the city in a 2005 collection of poems, Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems. In contrast to the previous poetry collection I highlighted, Moore's short poems stay away from the more gritty aspects of the city. Fortunately, that doesn't make them less interesting. I've never considered myself an expert on poetry and have always felt a little unqualified to judge it but Moore received the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children as well as many positive critical reviews of her work.

The subject matter in this collection ranges from the expected topics of seasons and bridges to the slightly amusing,"How to Go Around a Corner" and department store windows. The poems are all an easy length and mostly written in free verse. One of my favorites was "Forsythia Bush" because it reminded me of my own delight on discovering the beautiful forsythia during my first New York spring ten years ago.

There is nothing
quite
like the sudden
light

of
forsythia
that
one morning
without warning

explodes
into yellow
and
startles the street
into spring.

Each poem is accompanied by a lovely painted illustration by Roma Karas. The illustrations are clearly based on NYC (as is so often the case), but the poems are not city-specific.

Want More?
Read about Lilian Moore at The Poetry Foundation.
Visit Roma Karas' website.
Other Poetry Books you might like: Other poetry books you might like: A City Is, Sky Scrape/City Scape, City I Love, City Poems.

Add a Comment

Lilian Moore celebrates the city in a 2005 collection of poems, Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems. In contrast to the previous poetry collection I highlighted, Moore's short poems stay away from the more gritty aspects of the city. Fortunately, that doesn't make them less interesting. I've never considered myself an expert on poetry and have always felt a little unqualified to judge it but Moore received the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children as well as many positive critical reviews of her work.

The subject matter in this collection ranges from the expected topics of seasons and bridges to the slightly amusing,"How to Go Around a Corner" and department store windows. The poems are all an easy length and mostly written in free verse. One of my favorites was "Forsythia Bush" because it reminded me of my own delight on discovering the beautiful forsythia during my first New York spring ten years ago.

There is nothing
quite
like the sudden
light

of
forsythia
that
one morning
without warning

explodes
into yellow
and
startles the street
into spring.

Each poem is accompanied by a lovely painted illustration by Roma Karas. The illustrations are clearly based on NYC (as is so often the case), but the poems are not city-specific.

Want More?
Read about Lilian Moore at The Poetry Foundation.
Visit Roma Karas' website.
Other Poetry Books you might like: Other poetry books you might like: A City Is, Sky Scrape/City Scape, City I Love, City Poems.

Add a Comment

Lilian Moore celebrates the city in a 2005 collection of poems, Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems. In contrast to the previous poetry collection I highlighted, Moore's short poems stay away from the more gritty aspects of the city. Fortunately, that doesn't make them less interesting. I've never considered myself an expert on poetry and have always felt a little unqualified to judge it but Moore received the Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children as well as many positive critical reviews of her work.

The subject matter in this collection ranges from the expected topics of seasons and bridges to the slightly amusing,"How to Go Around a Corner" and department store windows. The poems are all an easy length and mostly written in free verse. One of my favorites was "Forsythia Bush" because it reminded me of my own delight on discovering the beautiful forsythia during my first New York spring ten years ago.

There is nothing
quite
like the sudden
light

of
forsythia
that
one morning
without warning

explodes
into yellow
and
startles the street
into spring.

Each poem is accompanied by a lovely painted illustration by Roma Karas. The illustrations are clearly based on NYC (as is so often the case), but the poems are not city-specific.

Want More?
Read about Lilian Moore at The Poetry Foundation.
Visit Roma Karas' website.
Other Poetry Books you might like: Other poetry books you might like: A City Is, Sky Scrape/City Scape, City I Love, City Poems.

Add a Comment

Many parents are familiar with Lois Lenski's books about characters named "Small" or "Little" transportation devices: Cowboy Small, Fireman Small, Policeman Small or The Little Fire Engine, The Little Train, ... you get the idea. Plus, her characteristic line drawings grace many a children's book, including her own Newbery Winner, Strawberry Girl.

In 1971, three years before her death, Lenski published City Poems, a collection of previously published and new poems about -- you guessed it -- the city. I actually found this collection in the adult, rather than the children's section of the library, but it is certainly appropriate for the younger set, which I suspect is the target audience anyway.

Lenski's poems are simple, and while I would be hard pressed to call them brilliant, my three year old was quite taken with them, especially (and unsurprisingly) the ones about cars, trucks, subways and taxis. The poems (about 100 in total) address a wide range of urban topics, from litter in the street and smells on the fire escape to libraries and playing ball with dad. Some are quite serious -- poems about gangs or slums -- while others are quite whimsical -- poems about hot dogs or the zoo's bear conversing with the children. While the poems are descriptive and detailed about life in the city, I was sometimes surprised at their straightforwardness, particularly when it came to poems with rather stark themes. For example, a deceptively simple poem about a traffic accident in which a boy on a bike is injured ends with the mundane question, "How did Mom get here?"

The collection is divided into sections such as "I Like the City", "People in the City" and "My Home in the City." The book is long out of print but you might be able to find a copy at your library. I would definitely suggest it for older children who are interested in city life and parents of small children can find some more playful poems, such as those about swings and whirlygigs and hot dogs, to recite aloud.

Want More?
Read another review at The Brookeshelf.
The Kirkus Reviews was not very flattering, and I think, a little unfair.
Other poetry books you might like: A City Is, Sky Scrape/City Scape, City I Love, Mural on Second Avenue and Other City Poems.