The City Kid and the Suburb Kid
By Deb Pilutti and Illustrated by Linda Bleck
This book addresses the difference between life in the city and life in the suburbs. This would be good to read to show that there is a difference and that one way of life is not superior to the other. The one problem I had with book was that there is no diversity shown in the book. I would think that there would be diversity, especially when discussing city life. I feel like diversity and the city are two items go hand in hand. I think that there should have been more diversity in the book because it does not give an accurate depiction of city life. If discussing the difference between city and suburban life I would pick a book that more accurately demonstrates what life would be like in those two places.
Besides the lack of diversity I really enjoyed the illustrations, I thought that they had a very vintage look to them. The illustrations looked vintage because of the colors used, they were subdued, and they way the illustrator drew the people and environment was reminiscent of vintage posters I have seen. One of the most interesting things about the book was the way it was an upside down book. On one side of the cover is a boy in a city scene and if the book is turned over and flipped upside down there is a scene of a boy in the suburbs. It makes the book seem like it is two different books. Both sides of the story connect and the book can be read either from the suburb kid side and the city kid side and it will make sense. Sometimes upside down books can be kind of confusing since it is hard to know where to start. I found that to be very clever on the author’s part and less confusing to the reader.