In the City

by Chris Raschka, Chris Raschka (Illustrator)

Overview

From Caldecott Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author Chris Raschka, this tender and fun-filled picture book celebrates unexpected friendship and city life from the perspective of pigeons!

How do two friends find each other?
Why choose this one, not another?
Are two friends just meant to be—
I for you and you for me?

Two pigeons fly through the city hoping to find a friend—but where do friends come from? In this brightly illustrated love letter to cities, the fine, feathered characters discover the magical, unlikely connections that happen best in the hustle and bustle of a big city.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481486279
Publisher:	Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books
Publication date:	09/29/2020
Pages:	40
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD440L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Chris Raschka is the illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes?; Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious; John Coltrane’s Giant Steps; Can’t Sleep; In the City; and The Magic Flute. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

Chris Raschka is the illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window, which was awarded the Caldecott Medal. He is also the illustrator of the Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes?; Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious; John Coltrane’s Giant Steps; Can’t Sleep; In the City; and The Magic Flute. He lives with his wife and son in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

09/14/2020

Caldecott Medalist Rachshka studies an oft-overlooked group of city dwellers—pigeons—conveying through their sociable flocks a message about making friends. In his loose signature style, he pans across a sweep of brownstones and brick buildings, traffic lights and telephone wires as pigeons wheel through the air. “If you tilt your head up high,/ you will see the pigeons fly.” Pigeons vary in hue (“This one has a bluish head,/ His or hers is white instead”), and they congregate without regard to this difference. Similarly, two kids, a Black child in blue glasses and a white-skinned child with a blue hair tie, watch the birds, then find themselves picnicking on the same bench. There’s instant rapport, and soon they race off hand-in-hand: “How do two friends find each other?/ Why this one, not another?” There’s no telling what draws anyone into a friendship, Raschka hints, but this detailed cityscape shows that a friend is a wonderful thing to find. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"A magnificent tribute to city life, the art of noticing, and the thrill of budding friendships."

Horn Book

★ 2020-06-16
An ode to friendship on wings of rhyme. Also feathers.

Firmly clapping back at urbanites who regard pigeons as pests, Raschka offers avian flocks rendered with typically energetic brushwork in gemlike, often wildly fantastical hues, swirling lyrically around skyscrapers and apartment buildings, perching on ledges and stoplights, pecking beneath picnic tables, socializing in the park, or pairing off in flight to bill and coo. Though often parsed out to just a phrase or two per page, the accompanying verse likewise wings along, as a brown-skinned child, watching the birds “in their tumbling flocks / soaring past the courthouse clock,” wonders “where…friends come from.” This child then perches on the same park bench as a lighter-skinned child. Closer looks at the distinctive colors and shimmering highlights on the birds at her feet accompany further thoughts: “How do two friends find each other? / Why choose this one, not another?” But if, in the end, conclusions remain elusive (“I suppose it’s in the air. / All my answers are up there”), these two new friends, at least, are as close as the nearest touch or shared glance. Along with casting bright, joyful light on some ubiquitous yet often unappreciated natural wonders, this heady outing irresistibly invites young readers into a ruminative frame of mind. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8-by-21-inch double-page spreads viewed at 71% of actual size.)

Just another masterwork from the multiple Caldecott medalist, shimmering with light, life, and deep thoughts. (Picture book. 6-8)

Kirkus Reviews