In the City: Our Scrapbook of Souvenirs

The city is a wonderful place to visit and if you don't go there very often it can be a marvelous adventure full of wondrous things to look at and experience. Frankie, Henry, Penny and their parents drove over the "bridge in the shuttle bus" and "saw the top of the world's tallest building disappearing into the clouds," and that was only the beginning of the excitement. All the kids were going to write about their experiences in their own souvenir scrapbooks. The city is alive with activity and the family is anxious to be a part of it for a while. Even the simple things like people heading to work look exciting to someone who lives in the country. Uncle Kev was showing them the ropes and shortly after noon Penny claimed they had "seen 3,425,740 people already and a dragon." They bought souvenirs, traveled to "the biggest store in town," went to the zoo, went to the market (the "smelliest place in the world), visited the Esplanade, they went up in a hot air balloon and a whole bunch of other places. If you're country folk and have been to a big city you can relate! I loved browsing the pictures in this book. They remind me of the bustling artwork in the Where's Waldo books, but the palette is a bit more subtle. The marvelous illustrations are so detailed and busy the reader can spend hours just looking at them. The children were talking and writing in their own voices and it could be quite amusing in some spots. For example, Henry claims that while visiting the market "Penny didn't like the meat section because she suffers from Vegetaria." If you haven't been to a big city is some time, just save yourself the time and take a trip through this book . . . the kids will make sure you have a fabulous time!