Customer Reviews

The Subway Sparrow (Sunburst Book)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

SUBWAY SPARROW by Leyla Torres is a 30-page large format children's book. Every page contains an illustration, and most of the illustrations are panoramas, going from the extreme left to the extreme right. The first picture shows a sparrow finding its way into a subway station in New York City. The picture uses a dramatic angle, where the viewer is situated up in the air, just beyond the bird, who is perching on a ledge. Down below, we see a subway picking up passengers. The artist did a good job at depicting the silvery sheen of the metal of the subway. The remaining pictures take place inside of a subway car, or in the subway station, except for the very last picture.

The writing goes like this:

"At the Atlantic Avenue station in Brooklyn, a sparrow flew into a subway car on the D train. (NEXT PAGE) Little bird, what are you doing down here? (NEXT PAGE) With a rumble, the train begain to move. (NEXT PAGE) It's okay, it's okay--don't be afraid. I want to help you. (NEXT PAGE) Mister, maybe you can catch him with your hat. Si, con mi sombrero tal vez lo atajemos."

After the Spanish speaking man tries to catch the bird with his hat, a Spanish speaking boy is asked to help, but the boy warns the other people that he might hurt the bird by accident. Then, a Polish woman tries to catch the bird. She says, "Nie dotykaj go parasolem." The book provides a tranlation to the woman's Polish, and the book adds, "No, forget the umbrella--it might hurt him.' Finally, another Spanish speaking woman comes along, and safely ensnares the bird with a colorful scarf.

The story has a happy ending. What is remarkable about the book is its depiction of New York City's melting pot of persons who speak Spanish and Polish. (Hopefully, the author will publish another book about New Yorkers with some folks speaking a bit of Italian.) The depiction of immigant-types, in this book, is done effortlessly, and there is no suggestion whatsoever that a goal of the book is to teach "tolerance" to children. The effortless and natural depiction of New York City's melting pot of immigrants, the charm of the story, and the dramatic angles found in the illustrations, wins this book at least FIVE STARS.