The Inside-Outside Book of London

Chalk up another triumph for New Yorker cover artist Munro. The latest addition to her Inside-Outside series whisks readers to London, and what a feast for the eye that great city proves to be. Munro's choice of subject is, as always, highly original. Some of the biggies are pictured--Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Houses of Parliament--but her inclusion of an umbrella shop on New Oxford Street, for example, is inspired, giving readers just as much of the flavor of London as do any of the architectural monuments. Her perspectives, too, are refreshingly different, even daring: readers will find themselves looking out at Regent Street from atop a double-decker bus, standing behind the cast of Les Miserables gazing out into the audience, and peering at a boy in the Tower of London from inside a suit of armor. A thoroughly intriguing work. All ages. (Oct.)