Tiny Treasury

Like you didn’t think the first place I’d pick would be Philadelphia…

I’m kicking my reviews of books this week that reference specific places - not just generally “in the city” or “on Generic Street, USA” - whether in title, text or setting. And the first book on my list is Good Night Philadelphia.

Good Night Philadelphia, authored by Adam Gamble and illustrated by Cooper Kelly, is part of the Good Night Our World series. Other books in the series include Good Night San Francisco, Good Night Atlanta and Good Night New York City. The premise of the series is, as you could imagine, “to celebrate special places in a way that young children… can easily relate to and enjoy with their families.”

And if Good Night Philadelphia is typical, the series more or less hits the mark. The book introduces the reader to places that are familiar to Philadelphians, though I’m not sure if those who haven’t spent a considerable amount of time in Philadelphia would quite understand or appreciate all of the spots chosen to “visit”.

The opening page missed the boat, I thought. Literally. There is a stretch of Philadelphia along the Schuylkill River (which no one outside of Philadelphia can pronounce) referred to as “Boathouse Row.” If you’ve been to Philly, you know Boathouse Row. And yet, the illustrations of Boathouse Row aren’t accompanied by any reference to it. Instead, the author says “Good morning, Schuylkill River” which is both difficult to pronounce if you aren’t familiar with it, and nearly impossible for new readers. Boathouse Row is simple - and the more common name for the stretch. I’m not sure whether this is a flaw because Gamble doesn’t know the area or if it was purposeful. But I didn’t think it a terribly good start.

After the opening pages, however, the book hits all of the right notes. The author makes stops along Philly’s notable tourist sites such as the Art Museum and Fairmount Water Works - and even stops to wonder what Rodin’s Thinker is thinking. There’s the obligatory mention of cheesesteaks (and thankfully not at Pat’s or Geno’s) as well as the Betsy Ross House and the Liberty Bell. The book is nicely illustrated - I thought the colors popped nicely and worked well with the board book format. I especially liked the crowd scenes, such as in Reading Terminal. It adds considerable interest to the book and encourages lots of finger pointing and question asking of the “Who’s that?” variety.

It’s short and sweet, as picture books - especially board books - should be. It’s a nice introduction to the City, and really does hit most of the main tourist attractions (what, no mention of our infamous sports teams?). I would definitely be inclined to pick up another in the series for my kids for the next time that we travel to New York City, Maine or any of the other places featured in the series. I agree that it’s a nice way to remember a trip without cheesy commercial references and at $9.95, it’s not priced badly either.

Philadelphia, Good Night Our World