A Walk in New York

Have you ever been to New York City?  The first time I visited NYC I was overwhelmed.  I remember coming up from the subway and seeing Times Square.  I had never seen anything like it.  Salvatore Rubbino does a great job of sharing the magic of NYC in his book A Walk In New York.  


Pickup the book and you will tour Grand Central Station,  New York Public Library, Empire State Building, and The Statue of Liberty.  The premise of the story is quiet simple: a young boy and his father take a day trip to Manhattan. The father shows his son all the wonderful sights of the city. Rubbino does a great job of highlighting some of the most interesting places in Manhattan. Rubbino shows Manhattan through a child's view, and he also includes interesting facts about each landmark.

This is a great book for building background knowledge.  Every reader brings their own experiences and knowledge when interacting with a text.  If your child has visited NYC they will have a lot of background knowledge to apply to this book.  However, if your child has never been to NYC their background knowledge might be limited.  This book (and your conversations) will help build their knowledge base!  

Before reading the book, pull out a map of the United States.  Find where you live and then find NYC on the map.  This will give your child an idea where NYC is in relation to where they live.  As you read the story be sure to make connections.  You will easily be able to make text-to-self connections and text-to-world connections.   

When you are reading with your child, be sure to model you thinking and make some connections.  You can use the following thinking stems when making connections:

• That reminds me of...
• I can relate to _____ because..

After modeling your connections, be sure to ask your child if they have a connection.

This is also a good book for determining importance. There is just too much information to remember it all!  After each place you visit in the book you can ask your child:  What do you want to remember about _______?

After reading A Walk in New York, your child will have new knowledge of NYC!

There are several extensions you and your child can do with this book!

1. Take a virtual tour of NYC.  Visit all of NYC famous landmarks and read tons of interesting information about each landmark.
2. Explore your city and create your own book.  Take pictures of your favorite parks, restaurants, libraries, theaters, stores, etc.  Find out some interesting information about each place and write your own story! 
3. The story shares an interesting fact about the Empire State Building.  It has 1,860 steps!  That is a lot!  However, most children have a hard time realizing just how many steps that is!  Have your child climb 100 stairs.  I bet they will be tuckered out.  Tell them they would have to do that 19 times to reach the top of the Empire State Building!