Fodor's Around New York City with Kids

We were looking for a guide book to help our 12 year old grandson plan a trip to New York. It seems to have a lot of good information for that age as well as things adults will enjoy doing.

"New York City with Kids" is a great travel reference guide but it certainly is not comprehensive. The guide mainly includes those well-known tourist attractions that New York City is known for but anyone who has been to NYC knows that this fabulous city has more to offer than just the museums, parks and tourist attractions. My kids, for instance, had as much of a blast just going through FAO Schwartz, and the flagship stores for Toys R Us (the ferris wheel, 2-story Barbie doll house and huge dinosaur are tourist attractions by themselves), the American Girl Shop and Build-a-Bear Workshop during our visit. Or grabbing lunch and yummy dessert at "Serendipity." Since this tour guide deals mainly with actual tourist attractions (e.g. Statue of Liberty, Museum of Natural History, the Intrepid) references to these also noteworthy (at least in my kids' eyes) "sights" are not included. In short, I think this book could benefit from going beyond the tried and tested tourist attractions and also explore some of the shops, cool restaurants, pastry / candy or dessert parlors, etc. that make New York City such an amazing place to visit for kids and their parents. If you're traveling to NYC with kids, get this book but also pick up another more comprehensive book on New York (like the Frommers, Fodors or Michelin guides, which usually have a chapter or sections devoted to kids) to really experience the best of what New York City has to offer.

Thanks to this book, we were able to figure out just the right bites of the big apple to take. We also were prepared for when we'd have to wait in line, and we saved big bucks through the author's tips on Broadway on a Budget. We used the author's fun facts to impress our kids. For example, if you were to look at every piece of art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it would take more than four years to see it all! We used several guidebooks. This one was by far the best!

The best thing about this guide is the format. It is arranged alphabetically and each 'attraction' is on a two-page spread and contains description, tips, address, hours, age range, website, cost AND nearby kid-friendly places to eat and a 'hey kids' fun fact or something to look for when visiting this attraction. There are cross-reference lists by category (parks, museums, sports, etc.) and by neighborhood. This is a supplement -- not the only guide to carry since it has no maps -- but lots of useful information.

This book is so easy to read. All sites are listed in alphabetical order, so there is no flipping to the index that I had to do with other books. It gives a good, parent based review on many of the most popular NYC sites.