Review by Booklist Review
Hale's energetic, vibrantly illustrated work relies on a single strong concept to take readers on an exciting journey through Brooklyn and greater New York City, emphasizing the use of prepositions to describe the daily routines of the main character. Young readers will delight in the textured, colorful images as an unnamed girl ventures out for the day, going from her front door, through the neighborhood, onto the train, to school, and back home again, each step marked by familiar sights for city dwellers, like subway stations, historic architecture, and skyscraper-filled panoramas. Included also are comforting sights for children, such as classroom scenes of storytime, arts and crafts, and playtime with friends. Perhaps the most memorable moment is a paneled spread that features the reverse trip home, which encourages readers to recognize and remember patterns and to take notice of the sights, sounds, and smells that they encounter on their daily walks and rituals. Hale's love for New York and pleasant memories of living there shine through in this playful romp through the city.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Intricate, textural cut-paper collage distinguishes this directional tale, which follows a brown-skinned child sporting a red jacket through a weekday commute via the New York subway--from a Brooklyn brownstone to school and back. In concise prose that emphasizes directional words, a child and adult head "down the stoop" and "beyond the turnstile" to wait for a train. Hale's art presents cityscapes from fluctuating perspectives, populated with a diverse cast of pedestrians, passengers, and classmates. Just right for completists and transit enthusiasts, the penultimate pages offer a paneled spread of the routine in reverse as the child accompanies a caretaker home. A charming, detailed primer for easing children into new routines and spatial phrases. Ages 3--6. (Oct.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2--Using collage to great effect, Hale (Todos Iguales/ All Equal: Un Corrido de /A Ballad of Lemon Grove) takes the readers on a prepositional journey through New York City as a young child who has brown skin and straight brown hair leaves home, journeys on foot and by subway, goes to school, and returns. The blend of illustrations and simple text provides a great teaching tool for prepositions, but this book is so much more. Celebrating family, community, and the joys of city life through the eyes of a child, the book succeeds on multiple levels. There are several breathtaking spreads of detailed and child-friendly collage (beginning with the spectacular cover) that students will pore over and connect to their own lives whether they live in a city or not. In this time of distance learning, this title could be used as a launching point for students to create their own "out the door" journeys in their community. VERDICT Prepositions are delightful. Highly recommended.--John Scott, Friends School of Baltimore
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Review by Horn Book Review
Hale's got a clever premise here -- a this-is-how-I-get-to-school picture book written entirely with prepositional phrases that combine a direction or position with a location. The title page kicks things off as a young girl, backpack on shoulders and lunchbox in hand, heads "out the door." With a page-turn, "down the stoop" she goes, trailed by her briefcase-toting dad. It's a fall day, and yellow leaves speckle the street and sidewalks in the textured collage illustrations. Deftly capturing the pace and rhythm of the pair's morning commute, Hale shows the girl contentedly leading the way, swinging her bright yellow lunchbox in the air. Soon, her father catches up, so they can hold hands before they walk "across the street." Signs for the F train and Carroll Street station clue readers in to the story's Brooklyn setting. Seek-and-find opportunities pop up, especially in subway scenes, where readers can spot the twosome "below the ground" and "amid the crowd." (The girl's fire-engine-red jacket helps.) After the girl reaches her destination -- a cheerful classroom of children with a variety of skin tones -- the story fast-forwards to the end of the school day, and a series of mini-illustrations traces the return trip home. It's a perfect back-to-school book, a warm-hearted chronicle of a daily routine, and an appealing introduction to directional and positional prepositions. Tanya D. Auger January/February 2021 p.77(c) Copyright 2021. 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
Follow a young child who travels to school on the New York City subway and goes about the day. In short phrases that emphasize directional words--highlighted in different colors--the unnamed narrator gives readers a taste of daily urban experience. The narrator goes "out the door" and through the neighborhood with a parent. Together they approach the stairs "outside the station," stand "at the booth," and then go "beyond the turnstile" to the subway train. "Amid the crowd" the two wait, the red-jacketed kid with brown skin and black hair and the parent with the same coloring. Their fellow commuters are diverse. They travel a few stops and exit "into daylight," going "around the corner" and "inside my school." Teachers and students are diverse, and one person uses a wheelchair. The school day passes, and the process of going home begins, but the return trip and the evening at home with both parents is compressed into a series of thumbnail panels in one double-page spread. The collage illustrations vary perspective, sometimes showing the travelers clearly while challenging readers to look for them at other times. Two subway scenes are particular striking, one of the travelers waiting from the opposite platform and the other a cutaway of the train passing below the streets. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 25% of actual size.) Kids can use the word patterns of this easy story to discuss their own experiences. (Picture book. 4-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
