Cox's (The Train to Glasgow
) radiant palette, balletic ink line and cosmopolitan aesthetic bring a buoyant spirit to this metropolitan fable. To young Nathan, there is nothing more marvelous than his apartment building's elevator and the man who runs it. It's not just that the elevator man has a dashing uniform (maroon with brass buttons); he is also gracious (he holds the elevator for Nathan's Type A dad) and cool under pressure (when other residents “lean on the buzzer,” he doesn't flinch). Best of all, he lets Nathan run the elevator when no one else is around. But when the building modernizes with a self-service elevator, Nathan's exuberance plummets (“Nathan reaches up to touch one of the buttons, the one that has an 'L' on it. He hopes it means 'Let Me Off' ”). At times the narrative is weighed down in extraneous detail when it should be buoyed by the emotional truths that Trachtenberg, a former book editor making his children's book debut, offers about facing change. But he does a wonderful job of setting up his story—even suburban readers will identify with Nathan's elevator fixation. Ages 4–8. (Sept.)
