Good Morning, City

Product Description It's dark and quiet.The moon still glimmers in the sky. While the baker, the ferry boat captain, and the TV anchorman are busy at work, most people are cozily snuggled in bed. Then dawn's first light peeks through the tree branches. Wake up, city! There is much to be done in neighborhoods all across the metropolis. As the morning gets brighter, the city streets bustle with people ready to begin the day. GOOD MORNING, CITY, by morning news anchor Pat Kiernan, is sure to start the day off right. From School Library Journal PreS-Gr 3—Scattered stars and a crescent moon illuminate skyscrapers swathed in the midnight blue of early predawn. Subsequent spreads show the city's earliest risers at work—toiling in a bakery, delivering papers or food, or collecting garbage. As the sky lightens, a school bus picks up its first passengers, workers on a construction site plan an excavation, and a little girl and her family awaken. Each full spread features three simple lines of text: "It's busy inside the bakery./Measure. Mix. Knead./Fresh bread will soon rise like the sun." Most pages include a middle line describing the sounds of the city at daybreak. The illustrations are detailed and stylized, depicting a clean, busy city filled with happy, attractive, and diverse people of all ages as they start their day. The final page shows the girl's family breakfasting, with a lovely bay-window view of the city as they watch the morning news. "Good morning, city./The anchorman reads the news./'It's going to be a beautiful, sunny day.'" VERDICT A fun read-aloud to pair with Elaine Moore and William Low's Good Morning, City. Perfect for units on communities or cities or for a lesson on onomatopoeia.—Barbara Auerbach, New York City Public Schools Review “Kiernan knows a lot about how a city shakes off sleep: he’s the beloved morning anchor on NY1, New York City’s 24-hour news channel. Combining short, poetic descriptions with onomatopoeia, the first-time children’s book author explains that the city wakes up long before readers do―even before the sun itself. . . [Campion] has a wonderful way with color and changing light (the bedroom scene is positively radiant), and his energetic city dwellers―from the gentleman who holds his hat as he jetés through a crosswalk to the folks chatting and flirting over diner coffee―seem certain they’re living in the best place in the world.” ―Publishers Weekly,starred review“Stylized illustrations with an animated feel combine with clear, straightforward text replete with urban sounds to describe morning dawning in the city. The book reveals the quiet mysteries of what happens before children are out and about as the day moves forward and people begin to go about their everyday lives. . . Notable for its portrayal of women and men of different colors in both nontraditional and traditional occupations, this selection provides a direct, realistic depiction of a typical urban morning. A fine addition to the waking-up shelf.” ―Kirkus Reviews“Spare text and city-sounds onomatopoeia work with the lush illustrations to satisfyingly depict the early- to mid-morning activities. The unique way the light changes, dapples, and washes over each double-page spread makes this look at daybreak particularly captivating, and the text’s described frenzy of traffic, people, and activity feels not rushed but alive and expectant. In this ode to city mornings, everyone is smiling and no one looks tired or grouchy, making for an invigorating way to start the day.” ―The Horn Book“This absorbing picture book gives a behind-the-scenes look at the workings of a city at daybreak. . . The book keeps giving fascinating glimpses of what people of different races and ages do as the sun rises, gradually brightening the illustrations with each page turn. . . The light keeps intensifying in the bustling illustrations, until the baby wakes up and the family (from the book’s cover) gathers at the breakfast table to start the