The Streets Are Free

Rating:
Summary: My Favorite Book for Small(ish) Children
Review: This book is absolutely amazing. First of all, the pictures are beyond gorgeous. I used to look at them for ages when I was a kid. There's so much happening in them, the colors are so lush, and most of all I thought they captured the spirit of the individual characters quite well. The illustrator deserves commendation.

The story itself is wonderful. In a small space, without a hint of pedantry, it covers "issues" like urbanization, pollution, community, politics, and activism. While being a heartening, optimistic story about community and what it can do for children, the book also manages to be healthily skeptical about politicians. The basic story is that the kids want a playground. After making a big fuss at city hall (and being mistreated in the process), the story becomes a public relations issue for the mayor, so he promises them a playground--and proceeds to do nothing as the newspaper story winds down. Eventually, the kids and parents take action into their own hands and--after doubting themselves--get a wonderful playground together through their collective action.

This retelling can't do justice to the book because it loses all the flavor of what is really a lovely story. I've loved this book since I was very small (for the record, I'm 18 now and I still read kids' book!).