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In the span of a few pages, Vila whisks the reader from New York’s Native American roots through its various manifestations to its modern scope. The bright, detailed illustrations, coupled with the spare text, invite the reader to linger in each layer of one of the world’s great cities.

Laura Vila grew up in the Midwest and studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Pratt Institute. She lives in New York City with her husband and her two cats. This is her first book. Laura believes equally in the importance of curiosity about the world and exploration of that world through art and storytelling.

Find out more about New York’s ethnic groups and areas---Chinatown, Little Italy, Spanish Harlem. Try some foods related to these ethnic groups.

Talk about the types of materials used to create structures over the decades and centuries in New York. (See “Class Discussion” page on Building Manhattan website.) Try to make a shelter with sticks and bark or the skeleton of a skyscraper out of toothpicks and gumdrops. Build a city out of cartons collected by the children.

Sing songs related to the diversity of American landscapes, people, and work e.g., “This Land is Your Land,” “The Erie Canal,” and “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad.” A good source is I Hear America Singing: Folk Songs for American Families: Knopf, 2003.

Have the children interview their grandparents about what life was like in the “olden days.” Alternatively, grandparents could be invited in to discuss their childhoods and help children write and make pictures related to these experiences.

Explore the concept of immigration. Who in the class has lived in your town all their lives? Who has recently arrived? Showing these journeys with pins and string on a map, and include those of parents and grandparents, if time permits.

Visit the local historical society or invite a society member in and look at old photographs of your town or city, objects from the past, and other artifacts. How long ago was the town mostly forest and fields? Did any native people live there? What kind of work did people do in the early days of the town? Draw pictures and make a timeline of scenes of your own town’s history.

Compare and contrast city and country life. Play a sorting game---What do you see in the country? What do you see in the city? Create a Venn diagram showing differences and commonalities. Make collages of city and of rural areas from magazine pictures.

Books about New York City/Cities
Curlee, Lynn. Brooklyn Bridge. Atheneum, 2001.
Curlee, Lynn. Skyscraper. Atheneum, 2007.
Janeczko, Paul and Henri Silberman. Stone Bench in an Empty Park. Scholastic, 2000.
Joosse, Barbara and R. Gregory Christie. Hot City. Philomel, 2004.
Melmed, Laura Krauss and Frane Lessac. New York! New York!: The Big Apple from A to Z. Collins, 2008.
Neubecker, Robert. Wow! City! Hyperion, 2004.
Sasek, Miroslav. This is New York. Universe, 2003.
Winter, Jeanette. The Tale of Pale Male. Harcourt, 2007.

Books about Houses, Homes, and Changing Places
Baker, Jeannie. Window. Walker Books Ltd., 2002.
Base, Graeme. The Water Hole. Harry N. Abrams, 2001.
Burton, Virginia Lee. The Little House. Houghton Mifflin, 1978.
DK Publishing and Steve Noon. A City Through Time. DK Children, 2004.
Hopkinson, Deborah and Kimberly Bucklen Root. Birdie’s Lighthouse. Aladddin, 2000.
Kurjian, Judi and David R. Wagner. In My Own Backyard. Charlesbridge, 2000.
McCaulay, David. Mill. Sandpiper, 1989.
McLerran, Alice and Barbara Cooney. Roxaboxen. HarperCollins, 2004.
Millard, Anne. A Street Through Time. DK Children, 1998.
Morris, Ann and Ken Heyman. Houses and Homes. HarperCollins, 1995.
Newhouse, Maxwell. The House That Max Built. Tundra Books, 2008.

www.mainememory.net The Maine Memory Network, a project of the Maine Historical Society: Resources for teaching and learning about Maine History.

http://www.loc.gov/teachers/ The Library of Congress’s American memory project’s page for teachers—lesson plans, primary sources and more on American history.