Description: What do Prospect Park, Coney Island, and Atlantic Avenue have in common? They are all located in Brooklyn, New York, a magical place where visitors can listen to jazz music, eat bagels and lox, and sit on the stoop of a brownstone and daydream. Children will recognize aspects of their own neighborhoods in this celebration of urban culture and community.
Brief description: Selina Alko is an award-winning author-illustrator of many books for young readers, including B Is for Brooklyn, One Golden Rule at School, Daddy Christmas & Hanukkah Mama, and The Case for Loving: The Fight for Interracial Marriage. She lives in Brooklyn with her family.
Review Quotes:
"Alko's cheery mixed-media collages feature everything from ticket stubs to subway tiles to tearings from the New York Times best-seller list, accompanied by broad-brush paintings of the city's multicultural inhabitants. In this spirited rendition of Brooklyn, a baby-toting mother celebrates the local outdoor pleasures alongside an interracial couple, a mustachioed gentleman in his 50s and a blond girl in a wheelchair. A particularly gorgeous Mermaid Parade struts by for the letter M. With hoopla like this, wavering Manhattanites may wind up in Fort Greene rather than Larchmont." --The New York Times
"The most colorful, populous borough of New York City comes alive in this eye-popping alphabet book." --School Library Journal "...a loving tribute that successfully captures Brooklyn's diversity and character." --Publishers Weekly, starred "...a welcome celebration of its rich ethnic, culinary, racial and religious diversity." --Kirkus "The artwork is bright, clear, and just a little surreal as subway maps and grids are incorporated into most of the paintings." --School Library Journal on My Subway Ride "Funky, fun gouache and mixed-media illustrations . . . refreshingly nondidactic story." --Booklist on I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother "[The book] will certainly be appreciated by biracial families, and the loving and anticipatory atmosphere may connect with any expectant family wondering who the new baby will take after." --School Library Journal on I'm Your Peanut Butter Big Brother