Customer Reviews

Hot City

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Hot City is one of those picture books that jumps right off the coffee table and gets under your skin. The funny, jazzy, spontaneous, and easy-to-follow text is perfectly illuminated with the bright, lively, syncopated, and imaginative illustrations. The plot is simple enough: a sister and her younger brother finding things to do on a very hot summer day in the city. The dialog moves us through their activities: spying on the 'blah-blah' ladies (that must be universal - how kids feel about their mothers' company and their endless prattle); eating snow cones ("we lick fast, but not fast enough"); and escaping into a cool library. While plopped "down in a big old chair, smooth and cool, like a throne" sister (now Princess) escapes on the back of a unicorn and thwarts a pirate-robber before her brother - riding in on a T.Rex - calls her back to the reality of the library and they depart for home. It's a story that honors where books can take us and would be a great read-aloud to younger children during a library storytime hour.

This is a delightful book for all ages. The illustrations are fun and creative and the text is also memorable. My two-year old daughter and my 74-year old mother both enjoy it.