Review by New York Times Review
"WOW ... NEW YORK! Just like I pictured it. Skyscrapers and everything." So murmurs a presumably wide-eyed newcomer during a spoken-word break in Stevie Wonder's "Living for the City," and who among us outlanders and former rubes did not feel that same sense of mingled recognition and awe when we first set foot here? Thanks to movies and TV, magazines, the news, books - iconography in general - all of us, even natives, carry a mental suitcase stuffed with received images of the Big Apple. That's true of children, too, for whom the city's superlatives (biggest, loudest, tallest) hold a special fascination. You might even say that New York is to other American cities what dinosaurs are to other animals - minus, one hopes, the extinction event. And if we are - or were - lucky children, picture books play a huge role in how we picture the dty, from "Eloise" and "The Snowy Day" to "Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile," "In the Night Kitchen," "You Can't Take a Balloon Into the Metropolitan Museum" and "The Man Who Walked Between the Towers." Marc Brown's "In New York" might not be in quite that league, but it's a wonderful book, maybe the best of its kind since Miroslav Sasek's "This Is New York," from 1960. Both books are travelogues, rooted in observation but buoyed by whimsy, presenting a city you want to get lost in, at least on the page. I'm a big fan of Brown's "Arthur" books (and even more so his stories about Arthur's stubborn sister, D.W.). In the past, Brown struck me as an artist with a gift more for character than for filling a whole page with something interesting. I was wrong. His illustrations here, with their heightened sense of place and three-dimensional space and their vivid, Seurat-like palette, beckon the eye to linger and roam, to pick out funny details or favorite landmarks. A New York immigrant (from Erie, Pa.), Brown writes as an enthusiast, in a friendly, first-person voice, studding his text with the kind of facts children will latch on to and - some children - repeat ad nauseam. Did you know the Empire State Building is "so tall that it is struck by lightning about 100 times a year"? Did you know that every year New York goes through "approximately 100 million Chinese food cartons"? Did you know New York has "over 1,600 places that serve pizza"? You do now, and may be reminded in the future. "Tap Tap Boom Boom" offers a smaller, anecdotal slice of New York life: A summer thunderstorm hits, a subway station fills with people fleeing the downpour, pizza and umbrellas are shared, a sense of ad hoc community takes hold until the storm breaks and everyone disperses back to the sidewalks. That's pretty much it - quotidian but magical, the kind of interruption in routine that might loom large in a small child's eyes and is rendered evocatively here. G. Brian Karas's illustrations, which combine drawings and photographs, capture the crazy yellow light of a summer storm while the onomatopoetic title, used as a refrain in the text, renders the sound of big, juicy raindrops splattering on concrete as thunder cracks overhead. Elizabeth Bluemle's rhymes don't always scan, exactly; they're more free jazz than swing, but I think anyone reading aloud will quickly get the hang of the text and learn how to have fun with it. If you thought one sweet book about the subway was unlikely, if not a logical impossibility, what about two? The M.T.A. will be proud to learn that "Count on the Subway" (to be published in May) wasn't laughed out of publishers' offices, the way it might have been a couple of grimier decades ago. As the title implies, this is a counting book, 1 to 10 and back again, making use of numerical train names and other features of an underground world that in real life could still use a bit of sanitizing. (The book's mother-and-daughter heroines do not encounter "5 fat rats" or "8 stains of mysterious origin.") Dan Yaccarino's illustrations are stylized in a zippy midcentury way, nodding, I think, to the old U.P.A. animation studio (Gerald McBoing-Boing, Mr. Magoo). They look simple, but pay attention or you might miss the man carrying a fish bowl off the 7 train, or the poster on a station wall that appears to be advertising giant squid. Finally, we have another onomatopoetic read-aloud treasure in "Zoom! Zoom! Sounds of Things That Go in the City," which takes us through a day's worth of urban cacophony. Tad Carpenter's angular, primary-colored illustrations are a perfect visual counterpart to the rattles, bangs and whooshes in Robert Burleigh's text; any child obsessed with trucks or backhoes or trains or steam shovels should get a jolt of pleasure from the vehicular energy on display here. "Zoom! Zoom!" seems as if it must be set in New York - until, contrary to the famous Frank Sinatra song, the city goes to sleep. New Yorkers, openhearted and not at all myopic when it comes to pride of place, will forgive Burleigh that snub, while comforting themselves with the knowledge that no one ever says: "Wow ... Phoenix! Just like I pictured it." BRUCE HANDY is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [March 16, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
Make room on the big-noisy-vehicle shelf. Burleigh and Carpenter give us a busy city with streets full of a vast variety of noisy modes of transportation: garbage trucks, double-decker buses, trains, cars, skateboards, and much more move boisterously up and down the streets. Hustle Bustle!, Vroom-Vroom!, Rattle! Rattle!, and Whoosh-Whoosh! fill the air from early morning to late at night when Shuffle. Shuffle. Whisper-whisper-yawn takes over. Although such a noisy place could be an assault to the senses, all the residents of this city, especially the broadly smiling vehicles, seem to be remarkably happy as they go about their business. Perhaps it's Burleigh's cheerful, rhyming text, which counterbalances the noises that swirl across the chunky, retro backdrops in rich reds, blues, and yellows. It's a gleeful romp and a nice companion piece to Burleigh's earlier work Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! Listen to the City (2009).--Enos, Randall Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"Wake up, city!" booms Burleigh in this companion to 2009's Clang! Clang! Beep! Beep! In an imaginary metropolis (where coffee is still just five cents a cup), all the vehicles-from bikes to subways-spring to life, most of them with eager smiles and bright headlight eyes. Each spread is snapshot of people happily in motion at a particular time of day, from the early morning garbage pickup to the time when late-night revelers call it quits ("Tired dancers/ slowly walking./ Subway riders/ softly talking"). Mid-afternoon finds school kids on a public bus eager to get home and hit the streets on wheels of their own: "Step on it, Driver./ Show some speed./ Rock it. Roll it./ Take the lead./ School's out city!" reads one of Burleigh's clipped couplets. Carpenter's (Sad Santa) carefree scenes, digitally rendered and saturated in primary colors, are the very picture of urban hustle and bustle, with a jaunty look of 1960s animation. Visual sound effect cues abound in dynamic display type: "rumble! rumble! rattle-rattle-roll!" As much fun as flooring it-and a lot safer. Ages 3-7. (Feb.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-Vehicles, buildings, streets, and people abound in this picture book about the noises heard during the course of a city day. The personified metropolis starts out in darkness, and sleeping cars and a cat are showcased in the opening pages. The cars' eyes open, and a person sitting outside a cafe yawns as a smiling sun peeks over the skyline. A series of rhyming verses detail the day's hubbub, while the city's sounds appear in large block letters across each spread. Other occasions that are presented include lunch time, school dismissal, fun time, dinner, party time, and bedtime. The couplets don't always advance the events in an understandable, rhythmic way ("Bus comes rocking./Whoops. Jump./Squeeze inside./Sit down. Bump-bump."), nor are the city noises necessarily sounds, as when work trucks are accompanied by "Dart! Dash! Dart-dive-dash!" Busy pages and a lack of continuity in the central concept of city sounds may prove challenging for storytime read-alouds, but the digital cartoon illustrations done in primary colors will appeal to young children who love to pore over transportation books.-Julie R. Ranelli, Queen Anne's County Free Library, Stevensville, MD (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
In an ode to urban vehicles featuring smiling trucks, cars, and trains, peppy rhyming text highlights the types of transportation that allow the city to function from sunrise to sundown. Kids will enjoy tracking the storefronts and inhabitants of this bustling metropolis in Carpenter's attractively retro digital illustrations in a pleasing primary-color palette. Share this with the vehicle-loving storytime crowd. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An energetic, multivehicle ride through a bustling city day. A cheerful sun awakens a sleeping metropolis, and garbage trucks and joggers take to the streets. With each spread, the day progresses. Rhyming text, jam-packed with action, propels the day forward, as each refrain announces the inhabitants' intentions: "Work time," "Lunch time," "Play time," "Party time." Exuberant onomatopoeia incorporated into the artwork follows the refrains, as trucks vroom, vans dash, and firetrucks flash. The frenetic pace finally slows at day's end, as stores close, parties come to an end, and revelers walk home. Hushed tones denote the need for sleep. Carpenter's retro-styled computer illustrations have a simple charm. Each spread offers something of interest, whether in pattern, composition or character. Done in a simple palette primarily of yellow, blue and red, with a base tone reminiscent of newsprint, the cheery artwork also captures the activity and grit of the city. Young vehicle-lovers will rev their engines for more. (Picture book. 2-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
