NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby

NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby
Buy NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby at Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com
Category: Emerging Readers
Reviewer: Zoe Page
Summary: A fabulous travel guide to New York, masquerading as an alphabet book.
Buy? Yes	Borrow? Yes
Pages: 64	Date: October 2016
Publisher: Hodder Children's Books
External links: Author's website
ISBN: 978-1444930313
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Long gone are the days when children didn't travel, and picture books had to be about animals. And while your pre-schoolers might not be planning solo trips to the States any time soon, it's never too early to get them and older siblings interested in other places and other cultures. NY is for New York is a themed alphabet book, based around the city that never sleeps, and it's chock full of facts and figures about a city I love, teaching me many new things I didn't know about a place I'm familiar with from visits and TV shows and many, many Manhattan books.

This is an oversized book with so much space for pictures and they come straight to life, right from the dinosaur and whale cavorting on the first page as we visit the A is for American Museum of National History. Not all the letters are for the well known tourist sites, though. We also have things like the F is for Flatiron Building and Q is for Queens, where Serena Williams is slamming some tennis balls around.

The whole book has a funky, eclectic feel to it. It is very contemporary and has a lovely adult appeal to it too. Even the writing is quite grown up, not too advanced in terms of vocabulary but logical and no-nonsense, without many nods to the young audience. For example, when we're talking about S is for Subway we learn the subway is an essential part of city living in the Big Apple. There are 660 miles of track in use for passenger service, with a further 186 miles of track used for storage and transit. It's factual but still friendly, and gives you the option of reading it aloud, or just giving it a quick skim and using it as a pointer for discussion of the wonderfully vibrant pictures.

This book works if you're learning your alphabet, learning about New York, or just want to look at some pretty pictures. It's by no means limited to pre-schoolers, and has a timeless quality that means you'll want to keep it around for years to come.

I'd like to thank the publishers for sending us a copy to review. It's a wonderful book we truly enjoyed.

For more books that explore world cites, A Walk In Paris by Salvatore Rubbino and The Queen's Hat by Steve Antony are superb.

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You can read more book reviews or buy NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby at Amazon.co.uk Amazon currently charges £2.99 for standard delivery for orders under £20, over which delivery is free.
You can read more book reviews or buy NY is for New York by Paul Thurlby at Amazon.com.

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