When you live in the city and you tell people you're pregnant, their first question is frequently "Are you moving?" But the city is great for kids, for many of the same reasons it's great for adults. As a child of the suburbs myself, I'm always on the lookout for picture books that will help deepen my son's connection to the city. Here are my 3 favorite recent additions to the kid-in-the-city genre. -- Gwynne Watkins
City Lullaby by Marilyn Singer, Illustrated by Carll Cneut (Clarion)
A love song to the cacaphony of city life, this counting book doesn't miss a single car alarm, cell phone ring or jackhammer. A sleeping baby is wheeled through chaotic street scenes that are so vibrantly illustrated, you can practically hear the sounds of pigeons and garbagemen rise off the page. Or, um, maybe I just left my apartment window open. $12 at Amazon.
Night Shift by Jessie Hartland (Bloomsbury)
The city never sleeps, but thankfully, your child does -- and this one-of-a-kind bedtime story will help her appreciate the people who work while she's snoring. From the newspaper printer to the museum security guard, the window dresser to the donut baker, the bridge painter to the zoo keeper, there's no shortage of fascinating characters to populate the offbeat, colored-outside-the-lines illustrations. $12.71 at Amazon.
The City Kid & The Suburb Kid by Deb Pilutti, Illustrated by Linda Bleck (Sterling)
If your city kid occasionally has backyard-envy, or your suburban kid too often complains that his town is boring, they'll relate to the characters in this book, a spin on "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse." The book is actually 2 books in one: in the first half, city kid Jack goes to visit his cousin Adam in the suburbs and has a great time, but eventually gets homesick and discovers -- well, you know the moral. Flip the book upside-down and read the second half, in which Adam visits Jack in the city. The twist is that the 2 mini-books have the same text; only the illustrations tell a different story. $10.17 at Amazon.
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