Overview
From the "pitch, smack, home run!" of Yankee Stadium, to the rattle of the Cyclone and the sticky cotton candy on Coney Island, to the pulse of the crowd in Times Square, My Subway Ride spotlights the rhythm and beat of New York City's subway train.Join the sea of colorful faces as they watch and listen to subway station musicians who sing of the train's sound and rhythm as
"a pulse, the pulse a heartbeat a jazz riff a constant sea
A mama's belly whisking us home."
Hop on the N or Q, or on the 1 or 2, and discover the heart of the city. You don't want to miss the next stop!
Paul DuBois Jacobs and Jennifer Swender are a husband-and-wife writing team who live in Brooklyn, New York. Paul has co-authored three books with musician Pete Seeger: Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book, Abiyoyo Returns, and Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup. Jennifer is an early childhood educator and curriculum developer. Paul and Jennifer's favorite subway line is the Q train.
Selina Alko, a children's book and editorial illustrator, studied illustration at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She has illustrated many educational books including Show and Tell Rose (McGraw-Hill) and Jump Rope (Bebop Books). She has also illustrated a weekly portrait column in Showbiz Magazine (Las Vegas) since 2000. Selina currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband Sean Qualls. Her only mode of transportation is the subway.
Synopsis
Waiting for the train
music in the station
bucket drums
steel guitars
the beat and the wait and the rumble-growl
a light in the dark
a floating star
squeak and squeal and screech to the stop
My Subway Ride whisks you through the vivid sounds, sights, and rhythms of the heart of New York City's subway and all the great stops along the way. From the "pitch, smack, home run!" of Yankee Stadium, to the rattle of the Cyclone and the sticky cotton candy on Coney Island, to the pulse of the crowd in Times Square, this book immerses you in the movement of the city. The pulse and beat of the subway train runs throughout the text, and the colorful and bold illustrations give the graphic sense of the subway, from fading train lights, to mosaic tile walls, to colorful graffiti, to a sea of faces. Join the subway station musicians who sing of the train's sound and rhythm as "a pulse, the pulse/a heartbeat/ a jazz riff/ a constant sea/ a mama's belly/ whisking us home."
Paul DuBois Jacobs and Jennifer Swender are a husband-and-wife team living in Brooklyn, New York. Paul has coauthored three books with musician Pete Seeger: Pete Seeger's Storytelling Book, Abiyoyo Returns, and Some Friends to Feed: The Story of Stone Soup. Jennifer is an early childhood educator and curriculum developer. Paul and Jennifer's favorite subway line is the Q train.
Selina Alko lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband who is also an illustrator. Selina studied illustration in New York City at the School of Visual Arts. She has illustrated many educational books for children, including Show and Tell Rose (from McGraw Hill) and Jump Rope (from Bebop Books). Selina loves her daily commute on the subway. Her favorite line is also the Q train.
Publishers Weekly
"The city is the body,/ the subway is the blood,/ running through/ tunnel veins" acts as a kind of refrain in this free-form verse that seems to rock and roll like a subway on the tracks. Dubois (Abiyoyo Returns, co-written with Pete Seeger) and Swender, his wife, conduct a whirlwind underground tour of the Big Apple, tipping their hats to tourist attractions along the way: Yankee Stadium on the 4 train ("Boys of summer,/ house that Ruth built"), Coney Island on the Q, and Times Square-where "transfer is available" nearly anywhere. Alko (Show and Tell Rose) riffs on their words with an upbeat expressionism reminiscent of urban murals and gives a nod to the stations' mosaics. Together, text and artwork capture a delicious sensory overload-the train makes a music all its own ("squeak and squeal and screech") while passengers and stops become a blur of "coming and going, going and coming." Alko imagines the subway sailing up the spine of a dinosaur skeleton at the Museum of Natural History and zooming down Coney Island's legendary Cyclone roller-coaster. The unseen narrator states the trip is not always smooth ("Red signals up ahead") and the accommodations aren't luxurious ("Excuse me!" pipes one of the "sea of faces" crammed into a car). Readers may well feel as if they've been on a magical mystery tour that hits exotic places and that winds up in the best place of all: "My stop,/ my home." Ages 4-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly
"The city is the body,/ the subway is the blood,/ running through/ tunnel veins" acts as a kind of refrain in this free-form verse that seems to rock and roll like a subway on the tracks. Dubois (Abiyoyo Returns, co-written with Pete Seeger) and Swender, his wife, conduct a whirlwind underground tour of the Big Apple, tipping their hats to tourist attractions along the way: Yankee Stadium on the 4 train ("Boys of summer,/ house that Ruth built"), Coney Island on the Q, and Times Square-where "transfer is available" nearly anywhere. Alko (Show and Tell Rose) riffs on their words with an upbeat expressionism reminiscent of urban murals and gives a nod to the stations' mosaics. Together, text and artwork capture a delicious sensory overload-the train makes a music all its own ("squeak and squeal and screech") while passengers and stops become a blur of "coming and going, going and coming." Alko imagines the subway sailing up the spine of a dinosaur skeleton at the Museum of Natural History and zooming down Coney Island's legendary Cyclone roller-coaster. The unseen narrator states the trip is not always smooth ("Red signals up ahead") and the accommodations aren't luxurious ("Excuse me!" pipes one of the "sea of faces" crammed into a car). Readers may well feel as if they've been on a magical mystery tour that hits exotic places and that winds up in the best place of all: "My stop,/ my home." Ages 4-8. (Sept.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.Children's Literature
"Welcome to the world underground. Tokens and turnstiles, tickets to enter." Experience "the beat and the wait and the rumble-growl" as you wait for the "squeak and squeal and screech to the stop" of the New York City subway. Hop on board and experience the city the way a native New Yorker would. In the pages of this book you will visit Yankee Stadium, the Museum of Natural History, Coney Island, Times Square, and more. You will experience the diversity of the city as you see faces of many different shapes and colors and hear "Let's go" in many different languages. The story is told in free verse/poetic prose. Its rhythm and beat almost give the feel of a subway train moving through the city. The colorful paintings have the look of murals, which might easily adorn the walls of the various stations. This book is not only one to which all New York City children could relate, but it is also a nice way to introduce non-city readers to the sights, sounds and way of life of big city living. 2004, Gibbs Smith Publisher, Ages 6 to 9.—Pat Trattles