Senses in the City

by Shelley Rotner (Contributor)

See the tall buildings. Hear a train speeding by. Smell the nuts roasting at a street stand. The city stimulates all of our senses in exciting ways. This book is a wonderful discussion and activity starter for children who live in or visit the city, and also ideal for classroom use in studying the five senses.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Childrens

32 pages, Library Binding

First published December 15, 2007

About the author

When I was five, I refused to go to kindergarten. I declared it was for babies. I already knew how to read, but what really bothered me the most was that the kids mixed up the paintbrushes and colors at the easel so there was never true blue, red, yellow or green. Every time my teacher turned her back, I left the room and headed to the first grade class diagonally across the hall. Luckily, I had a friend there who happily shared her desk with me until the teacher noticed and sent me back to kindergarten. After many successful escapes, a trip to the principal and some testing, I was officially moved to that first grade class with beautiful autumn leaves painted on the door.

Reviews

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Picture book - realistic
For preschool-early elementary

Photographs illustrate children seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching around the city.

The five senses and life in a big city are shown here through colorful, full-page photographs. Children of many races are shown engaging in the senses, and each sense is shown in several ways, from smelling "the flowers at a corner store" to smelling "the fish at the local market." City kids will find familiar things shown through the lens of the different senses, and kids from the suburbs will recognize some things and be introduced to others. This element would make the book work well in a preschool story time, where children could identify the senses or objects. The text would also make it a good choice for beginning readers, with the repetition of the senses, visual clues in the photographs, a clear, bold font, and only a few words on each page.

Booklist's review is energetic and descriptive, praising its appeal and variety.

[Jo Oehrlein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thinks this makes most sense for kids who go into a really large city with trains and subways -- major public transit. They can identify with the photos they'll see here.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Toddler and preschool

[Sue · Rating 2 out of 5]

Basic photo story illustrating the 5 senses in the city.

[Jaime Ann Sanborn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best series of books I have encountered for teaching small children about their senses in a story time.

See also: Senses at the Seashore
Senses on the Farm

[Katie Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

PK 3 Senses Unit

[Sarah Herrington · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a really neat book to introduce and learn about the senses. The photographs are bright and interesting.