WAKE UP, CITY!

As a young girl and her father journey to an easily guessed destination, the sun rises and the city starts it day.

The journey begins before dark in the entryway of a brownstone: the young girl pulls on her pink boots while her dad puts on his jacket. The streetlamps are still aglow, and “rows of cars sleep tail to nose” as they round the corner and enter the park. But as they exit the other side, “something changes. Something shifts. / Like a curtain rising, darkness lifts.” And the things the two see will surprise no city dweller: a street sweeper and garbage truck, a runner, people walking dogs and hosing sidewalks, store gates rising, deliveries. But the two must hurry the last few blocks—they are late! (This has been an awfully long walk, apparently.) The little girl is a mixture of urban confidence and childish innocence, her father seemingly enjoying the quiet morning time. While the two appear to be white, the people in the city around them (and in the classroom at the end) are nicely diverse.

A different view of a city (and of getting to school) than is usually presented, this is sure to be a hit, in rural and urban areas alike.