My City Speaks Written by Darren Lebeuf and Illustrated by Ashley Barron

I read this arc from NetGalley with my 4.5 and almost 8 year old boys. It was a nice length for their ages. 

The colors were vibrant and we loved noticing all of the small details. I appreciated that this was more of a visual story telling through the pictures with words operating as basic frame. This allows the parent to point out information that will be of specific interest to the child or explain a situation in a way best suited for the age and understanding level of the child such as how the girl is experiencing the city - what she is hearing, touching, smelling, tasting even though she isn’t seeing. The author and illustrator are telling a story without “telling” the story. 

My older son really enjoyed the alliterations. He said they made it “sound nice”. My younger son was very disappointed in the missed opportunity to have background fire trucks in the city. Because fire trucks are the best. Other than that he approved. 

I feel this is an excellent book for libraries and classrooms and would do well as a paperback in a scholastic book order type setting.