# Kids and New York and Books! Books! Books! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 11, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348 "2003-12-11T13:42:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/1 "2003-12-11T13:42:53Z")
This Spring I will be taking a 9 yr old girl on her first trip to New York City. The trip will be her Christmas Present, but because of the four month delay I want to present her with some representational gifts on Christmas Day. Gifts that she can enjoy in the following four months which will keep her mind on the approaching trip and get her excited about it. So, here’s why I’m posting in Cafe Society and not IMHO or MPSIMS: Books! I need book recommendations! I want to give her a few New York books for Christmas. These can be **Fiction placed in New York** or **NYC Guide Books for Kids** or **Broadway/Theatre Themed books for Kids** or anything that you can think of to prepare a 9 yr old girl for a trip to NYC. Any ideas? . ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/2 "2003-12-11T15:33:00Z")
They’re books for littler ones, but the combination of New York and Christmas right away made me think of the Eloise books. ---
**Author:** ![Asperity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3ab097/32.png) [@Asperity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asperity)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/3 "2003-12-11T16:07:47Z")
Try Diane Duane’s Young Wizards series, especially the first, _So You Want to Be a Wizard_. No child ought to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art without having read E. L. Konigsberg’s _From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_. I just found this book that looks like it’ll be very helpful: _Storied City: A Children’s Book Walking-Tour Guide to New York City_. It should be especially fun to plan to read some books involving the landmarks and parts of town you already know you’d like to see. And make sure you ask your local children’s librarian! They’ll know what’s in your local collection, and have access to lots of resources you can use to find more books to make waiting for your trip exciting (or at least as exciting as waiting gets). ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/4 "2003-12-11T16:14:42Z")
_From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler_ [http://www.bordersstores.com/search/title\_detail.jsp?id=3137587](http://www.bordersstores.com/search/title_detail.jsp?id=3137587) 2 kids take up residence in the Metropolitan Museum and solve an art-related mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/5 "2003-12-11T16:37:41Z")
Also, Harriet the Spy. ---
**Author:** ![stuyguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@stuyguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stuyguy)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/6 "2003-12-11T17:49:17Z")
2 non-fiction picks here: **The Brooklyn Bridge** (a kids’ book that tells how this 19th century engineering marvel was built). **Waterhouse Hawkings’ Amazing Dinosaurs** (the true story of the early attempt to create what became the American Museum of Natural History, complete with all sorts of Tammany Hall political shenanagans – but still mostly donosaurs). Once the kid has read these books she’ll be ready for my now-famous sightseeing thread! ---
**Author:** ![Ceejaytee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ceejaytee/32/2956_2.png) [@Ceejaytee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ceejaytee)\ **Post date:** [December 11, 2003, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kids-and-new-york-and-books-books-books/218348/7 "2003-12-11T19:41:26Z")
A really lovely Christmas in New York book is A Christmas on Jane Street ([http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688164420/qid=1071171416/sr=1-1/ref=sr\_1\_1/103-8412294-2567802?v=glance&s=books](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0688164420/qid=1071171416/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8412294-2567802?v=glance&s=books)), a true story about a Vermont family that comes to New York every year to sell Christmas trees on Jane Street in Greenwich Village, living in a camper for a month. I’ve been there; I imagine they’re there right now.