Lifestyles - City Life, Urban Sociology - General & Miscellaneous

Around Town

Name: Around Town
Author: Chris K. Soentpiet
ISBN: 9780688045722

by Chris K. Soentpiet

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Overview

"This vibrant, exuberant tour of New York City, illustrated in colorful, detailed watercolors, will delight children. A dark-haired girl and her mother walk through the streets and enjoy all of the fun the city has to offer on a summer day — street entertainment, eating outdoors at a sidewalk restaurant, feeding pigeons....A good choice for story hours."—School Library Journal.

About the Author, Chris K. Soentpiet

In His Own Words...

"In November 1978, at the age of eight, I was adopted with my older sister. We flew alone from Korea to live with an American family in Hawaii. I went from being the youngest sibling of my Korean family to being the middle child of my American family. (I didn't see my Korean family again until two years ago. After eighteen years, it was an emotional reunion!)

"My new parents enrolled me in Kauajian Elementary School. That's when I had my first taste of American foods which, at the time, I did not enjoy. Over time, pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, french fries and the like have become part of my everyday diet.

"We moved to Portland, Oregon, during my teen years. I played soccer and joined the local Boy Scout troop. I loved the outdoors and all the activities that came with it.

"In 1988, 1 entered Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York to study Advertising, Illustration, Graphic Design and Art Education. But during my senior year I went back to what I love most: painting. I graduated in 1992 with a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts.

"With encouragement and guidance from my good friend, Ted Lewin, I took my portfolio of five paintings around New York City. The first ten publishers I visited did not have work for me. Then Lothrop, Lee & Shepard gave me the opportunity to write and illustrate my first children's picture book, Around Town. It's a story about all the wonderful places a child can visit in the Big Apple; I have also illustrated The Last Dragon (Clarion), More Than Anything Else (Orchard), and Peacebound Trains (Clarion). Currently, I'm working on a picture book about my adoption for Lothrop. When I'm not illustrating books, I lecture in schools, at conferences, and in libraries throughout the United States.

"Last May I married a Chinese-American who is a nursing student in New York City. After having to adjust to American foods nineteen years ago, now I have to condition my taste buds to Chinese food!

"Throughout the years I have been blessed with good fortune and good people in my life. Their overwhelming positive feedback has provided me with the enthusiasm I put into each and every painting. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart!"

In His Own Words...

"We moved to Portland, Oregon, during my teen years. I played soccer and joined the local Boy Scout troop. I loved the outdoors and all the activities that came with it.

"Last May I married a Chinese-American who is a nursing student in New York City. After having to adjust to American foods nineteen years ago, now I have to condition my taste buds to Chinese food!

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Editorials

Ted Lewin

Beautifully crafted pictures, and words that fit with them as snugly as city backyards, celebrate life in the big city.

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

A sunny, panoramic view of Brooklyn brownstones, with a tiny Manhattan skyline in the distance, sets the expansive tone for this first book, a chipper tour of the Big Apple. ``Some people live in the country,'' declares the narrator, who assesses the respective merits of country, seashore and suburbs before enumerating the charms of the city. Accompanied by her mother on a summer outing, a girl delivers the kid's-eye view of urban attractions: ``Toy shops right on the sidewalks,'' she comments, passing a streetside vendor. Sparkling watercolors picture the chess corner in Washington Square Park, a sidewalk cafe in Little Italy and various locations in Central Park. Street performers--including a caricaturist, a busker and a juggler--help make the case that ``some people live in the city and think it's the best place of all.'' Ages 4-up. (Mar.)

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2-This vibrant, exuberant tour of New York City, illustrated in colorful, detailed watercolors, will delight children. A dark-haired little girl and her mother walk through the streets and enjoy all of the fun the city has to offer on a summer day-street entertainment, eating outdoors at a sidewalk restaurant, feeding pigeons, and riding in a horse-drawn buggy. The large pictures and brief text make this book a good choice for story hours. It could also be used as a social-studies supplement. A lighthearted, positive view of life in an urban environment.-Janet M. Bair, Trumbull Library, CT

Hazel Rochman

Lively, double-page-spread realistic paintings, splashed with sunlight and color and filled with all kinds of people in myriad activities, celebrate life in the city. There's no real story, but the simple, rhythmic text and the detailed pictures focus on a small girl and her mother enjoying New York City on a summer Saturday. They buy a doll from a street vendor, eat Italian food at a sidewalk cafe, feed the birds, watch chess players in the park. The streets are like a county fair with performers and artists who paint your portrait and paint on your face. There are secrets, too, such as the subways that hide underground. Soentpiet's first picture book captures both the diversity and the community of city life. Sometimes the child and her mother are part of the crowd; sometimes the close-up is on them. Always, there's a sense of discovery in ordinary life.