ONLY IN NEW YORK

Take a virtual road trip around New York State.

A “Welcome to New York” introduction along with an illustrated map of the state sets a lighthearted tone, suggesting everything that is weird and wonderful and uniquely New York. Each region of the state is introduced in its own double-page spread from the bottom-up, beginning with New York City and Long Island and moving north and west until reaching Niagara Falls and the Canadian border, all depicted in eye-catching, colorful, iconic scenes from each area, with scattered text in a small font providing appropriate factual bits and pieces on everything from sports, food, and nature to museums and attractions and much more. Statistics and a historical timeline are included. What could have been a straightforward textbook is, instead, a quirky approach to the subject that encourages young readers to peruse the elements that appeal to them and to come back to learn more. There is plenty of solid information here, but there is also a great deal of the odd and unexpected and, yes, the weird and wacky, from a mention of the Hudson Valley Garlic Festival to a section on things invented in New York (among them Jell-O, Scrabble, and pipe cleaners). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Informative and fun.