Listen to the City

By Rachel Isadora

Book Overview

In this bold book, author/illustrator Rachel Isadora pays homage to the vibrantly colored pop art made famous by Roy Lichtenstein. Listen to the City is a jazzy, cartoon-style celebration of the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0399230475
• ISBN13: 9780399230479
• Release Date: April 2000
• Publisher: Putnam Juvenile
• Length: 32 Pages
• Weight: 0.78 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.3" x 0.4" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 4 to 8 years
• Grade Range: Preschool to Grade 3

Customer Reviews

Linger on the sidewalks where the neon signs are pretty

Roy Lichtenstein may have accomplished many things in his lifetime, but writing a children's book was never one of them. Of course you might not know that after perusing Rachel Isadora's pop-art inspired, "Listen To the City". Having done well enough with its predecessor, "ABC Pop!" to consider a sequel of a sort, Isadora expands her repertoire further than ever. I first heard of this author/illustrator's work when I read her, "Ben's Trumpet" and "On Your Toes" so many many years ago. Not afraid to switch styles mid-stream, this book is certainly a testament to one artist's ability to do whatever it takes to create something wholly original. And pop-o-rific to boot. "Listen To the City" catalogues a full day in what could only be the Big Apple. Turn the publication page and the first thing you see is a bright clock, all primary colors in yellow, blue, with a facing page of pure unadulterated red red red. The words, "RISE AND SHINE" appear at the top of the page and you begin just another day in the city. You hear and see all kinds of things right from the start. Breakfast sizzling. A helicopter high above whoop whoop whooping. The sounds and sights of hundreds of different legs hurrying to and fro. Sometimes pictures overlap one another, as when cars, trucks, and taxis all converge on the busy streets. People get hot dogs and balloons ("SQUIRT SQUIRT, POP!") and when the day is done they watch movies, listen to jazz, and go to sleep. A long, noisy, eventful day. Isadora reduces the illustrations in this book to their most essential forms. The publication page doesn't offer any clues as to how this was done (though I was amused to find that the text was set in something called, "CircusMouseBook-Medium"). Basically this book would do the aforementioned Lichtenstein proud. Colors are bright and pop out like nobody's business. The words offer amusing juxtapositions between different sounds. At one point you're watching the legs of all kinds of people walk about. Sound effects for this page include, "CLICK CLICK, CLOMP CLOMP, TINK, TIP TAP", and, "CLICK CLACK". I wouldn't recommend this book for reading aloud during a storytime, but one-on-one it could be a lot of fun. There's a rather peculiar picture in the book that shows one of the New York Public Library's famous lions (I'm not sure which) sitting mysteriously in a green park. I'm going to get all nit-picky on you now and point out that the library lions face only a busy 5th Avenue. The park is behind them, as well as behind the library. You might say that Isadora isn't singling out a single "city" with the book, but how then do you describe the image of the George Washington Bridge or the Number 2 subway train? The strongest evidence that this is a NYC story? The last image in the book is of a garbage truck working in the dark as a snarky voice calls from an upper apartment window, "QUIET!". A cleaned up version of what you might actually hear, but one that struck

What a blast!

This was such a wonderful tool to teach my little boy not only words but proved to be a great discussion soundboard. I really enjoyed listening to his ideas about sounds, color and shapes. He walks around the house now sounding out words, sounds and explores the objects around him. I thought the illustrations were very creatiive and being an avid art lover greatly enjoyed viewing the pop art pictures. They were so clever and well executed that I thought they were of museum quality. I hope Ms. Isadora does more books like this. Nancy and Collin Flynn