Robin Segal

On a recent trip to Boston, I picked this book up as a souvenir for a little one in my family. It is exactly what you might guess it is - 32 pages of people, places, and things grouped according to letter. This is an extra fun way to learn the ABCs as everything is related to city life in some way, with a particular emphasis on Boston of course. I like that the book uses actual photographs, rather than drawings. It's also a very good mix of the specific and the everyday. For instance, the page for "B" includes Boston's Bunker Hill Monument and Beacon Hill as well as baked beans, bus, and bicycles - with the last two being items easily identified by most children. Some of the examples for the later letters of the alphabet are a bit of a stretch ("xing"/crossing for X and "yellow cab" for Y), but overall this is a fun and interesting book that is also educational.… (meer)

This book is full of the little things that NYC children see every day - scaffolding, hot dog, metrocard.

Some of the letter choices are a little weird, though, or else not as complete as they might be. V is for vendor - I would have liked to see another V word in there (most of the letters have more than one picture) like Verrazano bridge. Z is "zoo animals at the park", which is really stretching it - I understand that a Dr. Zizmor ad would be in poor taste, but why not a picture of the zoo itself, then? R manages to be for roller bladers, restrooms, and recycling - how about river? We've only got two of them :) O is for onlookers, another weird one. Onlookers? There must be something better than that! How about "one way sign" even?

With all those complaints said, it's not a bad book, and it's certainly refreshing to see a book filled with things we *really* see and use daily.… (meer)