Norman Rosten (1914–1995)

An illustrated collection of poems about New York City

This book is filled with poems about how New York City looks. It describes the buildings, ferries, rivers, the seasons and so much much. It gives you so much detail of how everything looks that it feels like your looking at it with your own eyes. You can tell they really love New York, every little bit of it.

Written in free verse, these poems are written about New York City. The book describes modern life in the city inviting the reader to answer questions within the poems. The illustrations ensure that this is a multicultural book, having children play together. The diversity of the neighorhood is part of the story. The seasons of the year are introduced in the poems. Instead of using this story for poetry and rhyming, I would use it during a social studies lesson to teach about urban life.

What is a city? Defined with poetry by Norman Rosten. New York City though, not just any ol'city.