ABC NYC

Photographer Dugan offers an urban alphabet, with color close-ups of letters on signs, billboards and the like (plus a line of identifying commentary) facing black-and-white shots of New York children, landmarks and street scenes seen mostly from low angles. Not all of her choices are good ones—the “little red lighthouse” beneath the George Washington Bridge isn’t the best subject for a black-and-white picture, and her assertion that Grand Central “is very grand indeed” isn’t borne out by her blurry view of its information kiosk and a few passersby. But for younger residents or visitors this does a better job of capturing a distinct sense of New York City as a place than Stephen Johnson’s Alphabet City (1995) or Kathy Jakobsen’s My New York (new ed, 2003). Endnotes identify locales and people. (Picture book. 4-7)