Review by Booklist Review
Known for writing sound picture books about nature and illustrating them with exceptional photographs, Sayre now turns her lens toward cities, encouraging children to discover the urban environment. Her sharply focused, beautifully composed photos reveal the creativity of architecture and engineering, along with the patterns of lines and three-dimensional forms in a variety of buildings. Dramatic juxtapositions enliven the pages here, contrasting new with old, light with shadow, and rich colors with muted ones. In brief phrases that form rhyming verses, the text suggests ideas to consider while viewing the illustrations. Besides mentioning curves, shapes, reflections, and other visual elements within the photos, the words also draw attention to the mechanical systems that make the city's drawbridges and construction equipment work: "Gear teeth mesh. / Axles spin. / Pulley / and levers / haul up / and in." Nature flourishes in these cities, too, from a pigeon perching on a ledge to a towering stalk of flower buds that appears to rise higher than the skyscraper seen beyond it in the distance. Through pleasing verse, riveting illustrations, and an appended section of questions to explore, Sayre helps children discover the wonders to be found in urban settings. As this eye-opening book concludes, "Cities shine!"
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 3--"Science, math, [and] art/live side by side" in this intriguing collection of urban images. She celebrates architecture, engineering, construction, and the art inherent in our cities. There are photos of tall buildings and rows of windows, highways, plants, and power lines. A crane appears next to a spire early on in the book and again toward the end, a reminder of the process of building and repair. There is decoration, detail, and a spread of materials. The contrast in shapes and styles is stunning. The blocky, traditional arrangement of the pictures contrasts with many curves--including one rippling Gehry tower. The "Tension/ Suspension" of remarkable bridges is shown with a glimpse of the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile driving across one. Images include Chicago skyscrapers, the London Bridge, Machu Picchu, the Louvre, Angkor Wat, the Capitol building in Washington, DC, and the New York Library lions. The simple text includes few words on a page, but the underlying rhyme and alliteration mimic a song of praise. An afterword includes good questions for readers. VERDICT A STEAM title with plenty of visual and verbal appeal.--Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Sayre (Warbler Wave, rev. 3/18; Being Frog, rev. 1/20) has a knack for pairing minimalist poetry with dramatic photographs. Here she turns her attention to urban settings where "science, math, art / live side by side." Juxtaposing different buildings, bridges, sculptures, and vehicles, Sayre's eye-catching spreads (with most photos taken by her) showcase lines, curves, angles, and shapes in striking compositions. A vertically oriented rectilinear skyscraper, for example, is positioned beside an angular shot of a different one. Both buildings function as mirrors, and they're joined by the couplet: "Clouds paint pictures as they pass. / Reflections warp in window glass." Here and elsewhere, personification, alliteration, and rhyme feature in Sayre's succinct verse. Throughout the book, Sayre also plays with perspective. On one page, there's a close-up of spiral sea fossils in a building's rock wall. On another, viewers peer, from above, at a kayaker in a triangle-tipped vessel. Sayre hits cities on a few different continents -- with the Louvre, Machu Picchu, and a Chicago Art Institute lion all making appearances. She also makes room for whimsy: case in point, a curvy Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crosses a suspension bridge. In a final "Explore the City" section, Sayre encourages viewers to get outside and look around, but they may find her "Questions to Ponder As You Wander" a bit challenging (e.g., "What is a heat island?"). Tanya D. Auger July/August 2020 p.156(c) Copyright 2020. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
An eclectic collection of photos of architecture is linked by simple rhymes in large type, highlighting the visual confluence of engineering and art. A photo depicting electrical wires against a building with corrugated siding is accompanied by the text "Lines merge, / diverge, divide," followed by "Science, math, art / live side by side" on the facing page, accompanying photos of a statue of a lion, a tiled wall, and a close-up of a grille of some sort. Similarly, curves, triangles, and other geometric elements are evoked in photos of skyscrapers, bridges, cranes, and sculpture. In places, the concept seems too advanced for the likely audience. "Structures transmit," set against a photo of electrical transformers, is shown opposite the text "transport, / and power," which accompanies four photos: of people riding a Vespa, a fire engine, an overhead view of a recreational kayaker, and a view of the U.S. Capitol with a school bus in the foreground. Readers will be understandably confused as they try to parse this sentence. Are the scooter, fire engine, and kayak to be read as "structures"? Is the picture of the Capitol dome a play on the word "power"? Most of the generic cityscape images seem to be of Chicago, with landmark structures from Machu Picchu, London, Paris, and other cities mixed in. A concluding spread contains questions for children to consider as they navigate cities. A rare misfire from Sayre. (Informational picture book. 5-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
