New York: Inside & Out

Gr 2–5—They've been around for a while, but the concertina, or foldout, book has recently seen a mini-revival: witness Chris Oxlade's Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (Design Line, 2014), illustrated by Mike Lemanski, and James Gulliver Hancock's Park (Lonely Planet, 2014), among others. Cochran's title joins this group with a six-and-a-half-foot-long illustration of New York City. Starting with Brooklyn's Coney Island and ending with the Bronx Zoo, the vibrant panel is packed with detailed images of neighborhood scenes and city sights from morning to night: Eddie's Sweet Shop, the Museum of Natural History, the Chrysler Building, Madison Square Garden, the Brooklyn Bridge, and more, in a delightful jumble (buildings 20 blocks apart sit next to each other). New York's newest skyscraper, One World Trade Center (the Freedom Tower) can be seen on the skyline. The reverse of the panel offers interior views: the spiral ramp of the Guggenheim's main gallery, a basketball game in play at Madison Square Garden, dinners inside Katz's Deli, etc.). There is no text per se, just a challenge to find 80 New York icons "from the Brooklyn Bridge to a baseball cap" (illustrations provided). As children adventure on this search-and-find mission, they'll appreciate the many touches of humor: monkeys cavorting on the Guggenheim Museum, King Kong scaling the Empire State Building, window washers working on high, messengers bicycling about, and buskers performing, as well as a mysterious abundance of pizza slices and bananas to spot throughout the city. More fragile than most, but well worth adding to collections.—Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal