The Brownstone - Hardcover

Scher, Paula

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1616894288 ISBN 13: 9781616894283

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2016

Synopsis

Living in harmony with your neighbor isn't always easy, but it's doubly difficult if you're a bear living in a New York City brownstone, getting ready to hibernate, and the kangaroos' tap dancing upstairs and Miss Cat's piano playing reverberate through the walls and floors. But Miss Cat has her own complaint: the cooking smells from the pigs downstairs. Happily, the wise owl landlord rearranges everybody so they can live in peace. This warm and funny story, slightly revised from the 1972 original, shows the young reader that you can learn to respect and live with others who are different from you.

About this title

About the Author

Paula Scher is a managing partner for Pentagram, and the author of Make It Bigger, and Paula Scher Maps. This is her first children's book.

Stan Mack has authored several children's books, and pioneered a documentary style of cartooning with his notorious New York comic strip "Stan Mack's Real Life Funnies," which ran in The Village Voice.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 2—Six animal households try to get along in this wry reprint originally published in 1973. Noise, odors, and menacing neighbors send one household after another to knock on the live-in owl landlord's door. He orchestrates apartment swaps that only make matters worse until he settles on the perfect arrangement: like-minded neighbors find one another, prey escape predators, and the bear family can finally settle in for their winter nap. Repetitive text, plenty of sound effects, and increasing hullabaloo lend the story the feel of an old yarn. While it would make a wonderful read-aloud, only a handful of pictures are large enough to share with groups. Most illustrations show a cutaway view of the brownstone interior, allowing readers to peek into all six apartments at once. The pen-and-ink drawings by New Yorker cartoonist Mack add humorous details and a cheerful, almost Seussian absurdity. A silly tale about neighborliness and problem-solving that will work best for small groups or one-on-one sharing.—Sarah Stone, San Francisco Public Library

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1616894288
• ISBN 13: 9781616894283
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32