Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street

When Eva sits on her stoop trying to complete a school assignment by writing about what happens in her neighborhood, she gets a great deal of advice and action

Grade 2-4?Schotter offers blocked young writers some savvy advice as she gives the premise of Ellen Raskin's Nothing Ever Happens on My Block (Aladdin, 1989) a contemporary flavor?in more ways than one. Sitting on her stoop with a Danish and a notebook as blank as her mind, Eva searches for inspiration as passing residents share words of wisdom: watch carefully, don't neglect details, use words in new ways ("Try to find the poetry in your pudding"), stretch the truth if necessary, make something happen. Taking the last to heart, Eva crumbles up her pastry to attract a flock of pigeons, setting off a chain of small accidents, chance meetings, and conversations, all of which she happily records. By the end, good things have come to everyone: an actor "on hiatus" lands a job offer, romance blooms between a pizza man and a lonely dancer, and the addition of some spilled coffee changes a vendor's bland chocolate mousse into mocha so magnificent that he is inspired to open a cafe with two new friends. Brooker incorporates pieces of newspaper, scraps of patterned cloth, and small objects into her paintings of a thoroughly lived-in urban neighborhood. Against backgrounds that have the intimacy and flattened perspective of a small stage, she poses her characters in appropriately theatrical stances; their wide gestures and exaggerated expressions suit this lively, fluently told tale perfectly.?John Peters, New York Public Library
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Schotter (A Fruit and Vegetable Man, 1993, etc.), the story of a would-be writer and her blank page, and the life going on all around her. Eva sits out on her New York City stoop, with her notebook, waiting for something to occur. Each neighbor who passes gives her writing tips: ``Try to find poetry in your pudding,'' suggests Mr. Morley, the maker of mundane mousses. ``Stretch,'' says dour dancer Alexis Leora, encouraging Eva to use her imagination. But it isn't until Eva takes matters into her own hands, by feeding her half-eaten Danish to some birds, that a domino effect transforms her neighborhood and gives her enough material to fill her notebook with observations more fantastic than fiction. Among the whirlwind of activity, the dancer and the pizza boy collide and fall in love, and Mr. Morley's mousse gets an accidental altering that turns it into a tasty treat. Schotter's story and Brooker's collages perfectly capture the cluttered eclecticism of New York City street life, so readers will forgive the author if the story lacks focus: The writing tips (which children will like) are lost in the blizzard of activity. (Picture book. 5-10) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Ages 4^-7. Eva's homework assignment is to write about what she knows, but she thinks that observing the goings-on in her neighborhood will be boring. At first she's right. One neighbor doesn't smile, several have job problems, one can't get his mousse to taste right. All of them have suggestions for Eva's writing, though. They advise her to stretch the truth, add action as if it were seasoning, and, most of all, when the story bogs down, ask, "What if . . . ?" and try to figure out what happens next. That's just what Eva does, and with the help of her manipulation, neighbors start falling in love, opening restaurants, and adding mocha to mousse. The story meanders at times, but Brooker's snazzy artwork will keep readers and listeners focused. Resembling the pictures of Lane Smith but executed in collage, the stylized art has action and humor enough for children but is visually interesting enough to appeal to adults reading it aloud. An excellent choice to use with older children studying creative writing. Ilene Cooper