I Love New York

🎵I love New York in ______. How about you?🎵

Yeah, I pretty much love the city pretty much any time and day of the year.

Born and raised in Queens (yes, Lucky Broken Girl's Ruth Behar and I both are graduates of PS 117 in Briarwood), I have lived outside of 11432 way longer than I lived there. Yet my love for the city constantly flows through my arteries like my past 50 years have all been spent just up from the Parsons Blvd station.

So could that be why I love Manhattan by Jennifer Thermes so much? Maybe. But by the looks of my Twitter feed, my fondness for this book is not unique.  And I follow librarians and educators from all over the country. Let's just say this book that has it all wrapped under one case, is appealing to anyone:

Obviously, the cartographer--Thermes is a map illustrator and it is evident in the perfect map on each page of this ever evolving island.

Historians--The book takes you on the historical journey of Manhattan from millions of years ago to today. You could do a scavenger hunt searching for facts on Hamilton, Edgar Allan Poe, geology...it's extensive.

Urban planners--Details about Wall Street, the grid, Central Park and so much more will delight these folks for sure.

Tourists--This is the ultimate guide to Manhattan. How fun would it be to have this book by your side while you are planning your trip.  Maybe pack the eBook version as it is oversized.  Not a complaint--Manhattan is a long skinny island and deserves this sized book--just not ideal for travel.

And of course, the artists and lovers of kidlit.  I fell for Jennifer Thermes with her Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail and am glad she moved off the mountain to my happy place.

Last minute gift idea-- give a pair of New York books, wrap Manhattan up with Elisha Cooper's RIVER which flow up to where I reside now.
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Speaking of Elisha, he and I met for coffee overlooking the river (sort of) last Friday afternoon.  I was heading to the city the next day and he drew his own map for us.

Library? His idea. Walking through SoHo to West Village? Elisha. Murray's Cheese? Uh-huh. (Yes and the Roomano was quite yummy!) Bar Pisellino? Yep. (Best. Hot Chocolate. Ever.) So it was a great day.

     

The obligatory leap.

Had a couple of 13 year olds who wanted to walk up Fifth. Did that, too.

Got 6 minutes? Check out their video of our day (and maybe consider subscribing to their channel 😉)

Get ready to LOL!

Stand Up, Yumi Chung!
By Jessica Kim

An aspiring comedian myself (no joke, a secret of apsiration of mine for sure!), I definitely want to read this one. Fifth grade Reading Ambassador, Jess, grabbed it when it came in a box of arcs and here's what she had to say about it:

Have you ever dreamed of being a stand up comedian? Have you ever done something your parents wouldn't allow you to do? Well, then you can relate to Yumi Chung. 

Yumi loves comedy and wants to figure out a way to do it without her parents figuring out. Her parents always brag about her sister's accomplishments because she goes to medical school but Yumi doesn't really have any accomplishments so her mom sometimes makes them up. Yumi also feels overruled by her parents like they tell her how she should wear her hair and that she can't do comedy.

Every morning in the summer, Yumi's parents pay for her to go to Hagwan, an educational program.  It ends at noon and Yumi is expected to go to the library afterward to study.  Instead, she sneaks into the HaHa Club, conveniently located across the street from the library. Yumi's favorite YouTuber also happens to be the counselor of the camp there so Yumi goes there every day instead of the library.

On top on everything else, a new steakhouse opens down the street from Chung's Steakhouse, the restaurant owned by Yumi's parents. Workers from Chung's quit because they would get paid more at the new restaurant.  Money starts getting tight for the Chung family and they can't pay the rent. Yumi has an idea to to save the day! How does she do it? Will Yumi's parents find out she's not going to the library? Will Yumi finally make her parents proud of her? You'll have to read this book to find out!

This book was really good! Yumi's jokes made me laugh and sometimes even giggle out loud. It even inspired me to learn some jokes and write my own. Put it on your TBR list for March 2020!