THE LONELY PHONE BOOTH

Can a phone booth become a beloved urban landmark? Yes, when it’s the busy Phone Booth on West End Avenue at 100th Street in New York City. Everybody used it: the businessman who was always running late, the cellist who kept leaving her instrument in a taxi, the birthday clown who could never find the party, even a secret agent, a zookeeper and a ballerina. The Phone Booth was very happy until his customers began using—cell phones! He is devastated, until the day a storm knocks out the cell tower and people remember the Phone Booth and its usefulness. They realize it is part of their neighborhood, and the Mayor even dubs it a hero. The Phone Booth is happy again. Without the drawings, the story might have little ring, but Dalton’s flat-dimension, stylish artwork (reminiscent of mid–20th-century animation, only with a nicely multicultural cast) implies the city’s energy and doesn’t cutesify the Phone Booth. This modern tale may be as puzzling to kids as typewriters, but they’ll find the Phone Booth appealing, and adults will appreciate the cautionary message. (Picture book. 5-8)