Nelly Takes New York: A Little Girl’s Adventure in the Big Apple

Nelly is a New York girl: she “wakes up to all the sounds of her home.... The subway rumbles. A musician rat-tat-tats his drum.” But when Nelly hears a street vendor use the term “the Big Apple,” she’s thoroughly perplexed and sets out from her West Village neighborhood, her dog Bagel in tow, in search of the giant fruit. Her quest takes her to some major landmarks, including the American Museum of Natural History (Bagel almost wrecks a dinosaur skeleton) and the 9/11 Memorial, where, debut children’s authors Pataki and Myers write, “people walk around, holding the hands of their loved ones.” Finally, Nelly arrives at the top of the Empire State Building, and as the city glitters beneath her—Valiant (Feel the Beat) contributes two impressive twilight panoramas—Nelly thinks about all the people who have helped her during the day and realizes, “The Big Apple is all of us—the Big Apple IS New York City!” New Yorkers will likely start shaking their heads in disbelief from the very first pages. (What young New Yorker has never heard the phrase “the Big Apple”? And what’s this kid’s secret to getting around town so fast, even by train?) But for those who live in environs beyond, it’s a wide-ranging, if flatly narrated, fantasy tour—a kind of junior “On the Town.” Ages 4–8. [em](May) Correction: A previous version of this review misstated the illustrator's name. [/em]