My New York

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

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. (Sept.)

School Library Journal

K-Gr 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

Ilene Cooper

From the South Street Seaport to the Museum of Natural History, Jakobsen presents New York City, capturing all its incredible energy. She frames the text in a letter from a young New Yorker writing to a friend. The boy will be visiting soon, and the narrator describes the many sights he'll see, not all of them regular tourist stops--one of the neatest pictures is of the Baby Watson Cheesecake Bakery, whose owner puts his baby picture on every box. Jakobsen's shrewdly chosen sites get terrific treatments in her crowded folk-style art, which makes the city come alive. Whether the view is from the roof of the writer's apartment building or looking across at snow-covered Central Park, the pictures make viewers feel as if they were right there, riding on the Staten Island Ferry or staring up at the Empire State Building a three-page fold-out spread. The book really covers a wide age range. Primary-graders will enjoy looking at the pictures, and older kids doing reports on the city should get a real feel for it through Jakobsen's art. Adults, too, will enjoy the visual visit. A map of the city appears on the endpapers.