TRUSTY TOWN HALL

Introductions to the government workers staffing a (generic) city hall and the work they do.

Ward opens this people-centric overview with a gallery featuring dozens of small figures occupying positions from mayor and mayor’s assistant to law director and landscape supervisor for the fictive town of Honey Hill. What each actually does goes mostly unexamined, but the author does invite readers to count them, match them to the gear they use and services they provide, and seek out equivalent workers in their own communities. As the organizational structure appears to lack a school board, the town council deals only with “new laws, ideas, and events” rather than specific issues, and there seems to be only one mayoral candidate (this tour is set on election day), so Honey Hill feels a bit distant from the real world. Still, it’s an upbeat, inclusive depiction. The officials are racially diverse, the town council includes a member wearing a hijab, and local residents in the background include two figures who use wheelchairs. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Positive reinforcement for the notion that government is by, as well as of and for, the people.