City Street Beat
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
In City Street Beat, a young girl travels along a city's twisty road on her way to a friend’s house. Together, they embark on an adventure, taking in all the city’s sights and sounds. They hear the tippy, tappy clack of high heels on the sidewalk; the strumming and drumming of a three-piece band; the flipping and flapping of dancing pigeons; and more. The girls move and groove to the rock-n-roll and razz-ma-tazz of the city’s hip-hop beat using all five senses until at last it’s time to say good-bye.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Viau (Look What I Can Do!) adds to a crowded category of picture books celebrating urban life in this rhyming ode to the sights and sounds of the city. A girl and her mother drive into the city, where they meet up with a young friend and her father. The parents mostly stay in the background as the children jump rope, ride the subway and a bus, and dance to a street band. Viau's verse zips along with a strong emphasis on sound effects ("Hear the shutters climb the wall./ Rat-a-tatter. Bang!"), though the recurring refrain strains in its effort to come across as fresh and hip ("Rock-n-roll the razz-ma-tazz/ And hip-hop to the beat"). Bakos's busy illustrations, painted in a vivid palette, offer a cheerful, multicultural cast and abundant city bustle to explore while matching the unceasingly upbeat mood of the verse the closest the book ever comes to any sort of urban grit is an encounter with a garbage truck. Ages 4 7.
