CITY SANDWICH

by Frank Asch ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 14, 1978

Asch's urban word pictures deal with the fireman and the traffic cop, the laundromat and the department store, the fire escape and rooftop, taxis, balloons, and neon lights. His people have typically urban problems: a lady goes round her apartment building borrowing sugar just to have someone to talk to; a boy annoyed by city noises adds to them (BANG! BANG!) by ""shooting"" all offenders with his finger; a kid with a goldfish hopes for a dog. Mostly natural-sounding descriptions, many of the verses are disappointingly flat: ""Department Store"" begins with an ordinary list of wares and ends ""It's the kind of a store/That makes me smile/I'm not going to buy anything,/ Just going to visit awhile."" But ""Subway"" picks up speed: "". . . the train comes down the track./With a swish and a roar./and a clickety-clack,/with / CHICO / KING / CRAZYMAN /5/ scribbled up and down its side./ (The subway always gives you more than just a ride.)"" And Asch's witty black-and-white illustrations, which combine spare, line-drawn figures with intricate, close-packed doodles, definitely vibrate to the city beat.

Pub Date: Aug. 14, 1978

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Greenwillow

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1978

Categories: NONFICTION