GOOD MORNING, CITY

What happens in the morning when children are asleep?

“It’s dark and quiet. The moon still glimmers in the sky.” The sun may not have risen, but people are already at work in this city. Bread is being kneaded, papers are being delivered, and a ferry is picking people up. Stylized illustrations with an animated feel combine with clear, straightforward text replete with urban sounds to describe morning dawning in the city. The book reveals the quiet mysteries of what happens before children are out and about as the day moves forward and people begin to go about their everyday lives. A racially diverse cast of characters, many of them women, deliver goods, guide traffic, jog, serve food, eat, collect garbage, drive buses and cars, and work construction as the sun gradually comes up and displaces the moon’s shadowy light, eventually waking a young girl and her brother, both white, who are ready to play. Their father makes breakfast, and the TV news lets them know: “It’s going to be a beautiful, sunny day.” Notable for its portrayal of women and men of different colors in both nontraditional and traditional occupations, this selection provides a direct, realistic depiction of a typical urban morning.

A fine addition to the waking-up shelf.