My Little Cities: New York

March 27, 2017
Adams (the Baby Lit series) and Pizzoli (Dragon Was Terrible) offer a zippy tour of the Big Apple in this pitch-perfect board book that paints the city as a town of opposites. “Building high/ Building low/ Moving fast/ Moving slow” takes readers from the Empire State Building to the New York Public Library, from the subway to the Staten Island Ferry as it chugs its way past the Statue of Liberty. Bright colors, speckled textured, and smiley, round-headed citizens (and tourists) create a sense of friendly bustle on every page, and a useful closing spread fills in details about the 10 featured sites. Simultaneously available: My Little Cities: London. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House.

July 1, 2017
The youngest tourists can take a nibble out of the Big Apple in this first installment of the My Little Cities series. Readers visit such New York City icons as the Empire State Building, the NYC subway, Times Square, Coney Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge. Adams' simple text scans nicely, using two-word lines per double-page spread to set the scene and introduce youngsters to opposites. "Listen quiet / listen loud / sit alone / or in a crowd" is paired with Broadway, Times Square, Central Park, and Yankee Stadium respectively. Pizzoli, in his muted-colored cartoons, charmingly strips each landmark to toddler-friendly essentials; the New York Public Library lions are delightful, and the Times Square crowds are refreshingly manageable. The tableaux are populated with a representative cross-section of humanity in smiling profile--never has New York City looked so friendly. The final two pages review all the sights and share two to three sentences of simple facts about each one. Using much the same format, companion London focuses on that storied city and introduces young armchair travelers to Big Ben, the London Eye, Abbey Road (with a re-enactment of the famous Beatles cover), and a double-decker bus cruising through Piccadilly Circus. Sure to promote toddler wanderlust; here's hoping more excursions are en route. (Board book. 1-3)

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July 1, 2017

PreS-The sights and sounds of the Big Apple are explored in this clever and fun look at opposites. "Building high (the Empire State Building), /Building low (New York Public Library), /Moving fast (subway), /Moving slow (ferry to the Statue of Liberty)." Times Square, Central Park, Yankee Stadium, Coney Island, and the Brooklyn Bridge are also showcased. The simple text is presented in an array of jazzy fonts, and Pizzoli's graphic style cartoon images are pleasing and loaded with child appeal.

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