Synopsis
A young girl takes readers on a fun-filled, child's-eye tour of New York City, in a colorful picture book that captures the sights, sounds, and attractions of the Big Apple in richly detailed, vivid folk-art paintings.
Reviews
Kindergarten-Grade 3-Jakobsen's combination of descriptive, conversational text and colorful folk-art paintings brings to life a young girl's New York scenes. From the Statue of Liberty off the lower tip of Manhattan to the Museum of Natural History on West 81st Street, readers tour places and events such as the NYC Marathon, the Central Park Zoo and carousel, FAO Schwartz, Chinatown, the home of Baby Watson cheesecake, the circus at Madison Square Garden, the aircraft carrier Intrepid, South Street Seaport, and the Fourth of July fireworks over New York Harbor. Fold-out pages of the Empire State Building and a building under construction are an interesting design addition. A map appears inside both front and rear covers. Most illustrations are double paged, with a few exceptions that do not work as well because of the busy details on facing pages. Notes at the end give additional information about each site or event mentioned. Although Becky's New York is in reality only a small area of Manhattan, the marvelously detailed illustrations and the excellent range of places paints an exciting and informative picture of the best of New York City life and activity. A visual treat for children from all around the country.
Mary Rinato Berman, New York Public Library
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A gifted folk artist, Jakobsen (illustrator of Reeve Lindbergh's Johnny Apple seed ) here conducts a thoroughly enjoyable and informative excursion through Manhattan. Her fastidiously detailed oil paintings illustrate a chatty letter written by a girl named Becky to a friend who will soon be moving from the Midwest to New York. Becky's tour of the Big Apple includes visits to the Central Park Zoo, the F.A.O. Schwarz toy store, Chinatown and the South Street Seaport; like any good guide, she throws in suggestive statistics (the Baby Watson cheesecake operation uses more than 38,000 eggs a day). Several foldout pages present larger-scale visual extravaganzas, among them a panorama of the skyline as seen from the top of the Empire State Building, a high-rise under construction and dinosaur skeletons at the American Museum of Natural History. As an added treat, youngsters can search out Becky and her parents, who appear in each picture. This stunning book's piece de resistance is a spectacular double-page spread of New York Harbor on the Fourth of July, with fireworks exploding over the Statue of Liberty and an impressive assemblage of tall ships. A splendid tribute to the city that never sleeps. All ages.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
A tour of ``my favorite places,'' described in a letter from Becky to a friend who's moving to New York from the Midwest. The child's-eye view suggests a good balance of topics--a flea market and the subway, as well as Manhattan's familiar attractions. Folk-artist Jakobsen fills her precise illustrations with details to explore, employing different points of view to good advantage: the Empire State Building in perspective from the street (sideways on a foldout page) plus a panorama from its top on the verso; elevated views of the N.Y.C. Marathon and Chinatown. A vertical foldout accommodates the Natural History Museum's remarkably tall, slender barosaurus. The illustrations are busy but nicely orchestrated, with bright, attractively stylized forms and figures mingling on every spread, plus Becky--in the same attire regardless of season--to be discovered on each. Other pictorial visits to New York include Munro's Inside-Outside book (1985); this one is distinguished by its wealth of cheerful, authentic detail and pleasingly decorative style. Endpaper map. (Picture book. 4-9) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
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