Books for Young Urbanists

Youngsters Read the City: Books for Little Urbanists
by Eileen Marky, for City Limits

So many children's books feature barnyard animals or single-family houses with big lawns and people riding in cars – all rather remote concepts for a New York child. And while nearly every museum in the city has a handful of classic New York-themed children's titles for sale, they're almost always the same three or four books. While the classic Eloise is fun and the graphic NYC ABC is a delight, the children's Gotham bookshelf has much more depth. Here's a list of sometimes overlooked titles with engaging art that celebrate the city, for those
of us who don't live in The Plaza.
*Uptown* by Bryan Collier, Henry Holt & Co., 2004
*Apt. 3* by Ezra Jack Keats, Puffin, 1999
*Dreams* by Ezra Jack Keats, Puffin, 2000
*Black Cat* by Christopher Myers, Scholastic Press, 1999
*Tar Beach* by Faith Ringgold, Dragonfly Books, 1996
*Madlenka* by Peter Sis, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2000
*Subway* by Anastasia Suen, illustrated by Karen Katz, Viking Juvenile 2004
*Down in the Subway* by Miriam Cohen, illustrated by Melanie Hope
Greenberg, Star Bright Books 2003
*No Jumping on the Bed* by Tedd Arnold, Puffin, 1996
*Old MacDonald Had an Apartment House* by Judi and Ron Barrett,
Atheneum, 1998

"Everybody walks in the street, more or less straight down the middle,
and if a car comes while somebody's having a good conversation or
telling a good story, the car has to wait till the story finishes before
people will move out of the way. Stories are important here, and cars
aren't."
The Most Beautiful Place in the World
Ann Cameron, 1988

Thanks to Todd Edelman