We are here at home now, watching the world through our windows. Outside we see the city we know, but not as we've seen it before. The once hustling and bustling streets are empty. Well, almost empty. Around the city there are still people, some, out and about. These are the people keeping us safe. Keeping us healthy. Keeping our mail and our food delivered. Keeping our grocery stores stocked. Keeping the whole city going. Brian Floca speaks for us all in this stirring homage to all the essential workers who keep the essentials operating so the rest of us can do our part by sheltering in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Thanks to author/illustrator Kelly Light for helping OPB review Brian Floca's new picture book, KEEPING THE CITY GOING. Did she love it or did she LOVE it? Find out here. https://t.co/OIRg0vMudj #MondayBlogs #picturebooks #IMWAYR https://t.co/hJrJlcBFq3
I write about picture books for various publications (including 16 years at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast).
Author-illustrator Brian Floca visits 7-Imp to talk about KEEPING THE CITY GOING, his tribute to the essential workers who kept cities going during the pandemic. He shares lots of sketches and art: https://t.co/tts0sgC79u. https://t.co/P1whKs9w59
With lyrical text and exquisite, detailed illustrations, Floca reminds readers of the early days of the pandemic with an empty city street. Well, almost empty. A hint of movement in these opening scenes turns into a full-page spread with food deliverers on bikes. Of course, first responders--the fire department, police officers, ambulance drivers, and health care workers--are depicted prominently, but so too are the workers who suddenly become frontline service and care. A moving tribute that remembers essential workers and community in a time of loss.
--Booklist STARRED Review "April 1, 2021"