Bedtime Stories
Last week, Philissa asked about your kids' favorite books, for parents looking to bolster summer reading lists. In a week thick with real-life confusion, a little fiction escape may be more than welcome.
One reader, bermbaby, responded with a few select NYC-based titles, awfully clear-eyed for a 2:29am post. But plenty of terrific city books deserve a nod -- among them, Anna Banana and Me (a picturebook set in Central Park), the old-school series All-of-a-Kind Family (on the Lower East Side and in Seward Park Library), and the Upper East Side classic, Harriet the Spy. And then there's always A Cricket in Times Square, the story of a city boy and a lyrical insect in this complicated, amazing town.
What are we missing? What are your best NYC book picks? Nonfiction fans, don't be daunted -- let's have your favorite city fact titles, too.
5 comments:
The amazing "Tell Me A Mitzi" by Lore Segal. Incredibly funny and sophisticated picture book.
"Nora and Mrs. Mind Your Own Business" and the other Riverside Kids books by Johanna Hurwitz. Set in an apartment building on the UWS.
Okay, I'm posting at a reasonable hour; My kid's fever is long gone and I've thought of a few more NYC books.
Roller Skates by Ruth Sawyer
A Room With a Zoo by Jules Feiffer
Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House by Judi & Ron Barrett
The Adventures of Taxi Dog by Debra Barraca
The Garden by Sarah Stewart
Max Makes A Million &
Next Stop Grand Central Station by Maira Kalman
The Babe and I by David Adler
My New York by Kathy Jakobsen
New York New York The Big Apple From A to Z
Gregor the Underlander and sequels by Suzanne Collins, about a New York City boy who, with his toddler sister, discovers an amazing world under the city streets. It's a terrific adventure, reading it now with my third grader.
Newbery Medalist Avi's The Mayor of Central Park, about a baseball-loving squirrel in Central Park.
Bette Bao Lord's In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson, about a Chinese immigrant girl, which is set in Brooklyn Height's PS 8.
I think it's out of print, but I Go WIth My Family to Grandma's by Riki Levinson, illus. by Diane Goode is a wonderful picture book about 5 little girls, one from each of the boroughs, who go to a family reunion.
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers by Mordecai Gerstein, a picture book about Philip Petit's tightrope act at the world trade center. It won the Caldecott Medal and also was made into an award-winning film.
Jon Scieszka's Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge? in his Time Warp Trio series is about the making of the Brooklyn Bridge.
A good book for younger children is "Subway Sparrow," by Leyla Torres. It's about a sparrow that flies into a subway car at the Atlantic Avenue station on the D train, and what happens next. The illustrations are very amusing and the story is heart warming.
A lovely children's picture book (set in an upper west side diner) is An Angel for Solomon Singer, story by Cynthia Rylant, pictures by Peter Catalano.
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