DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan

Saddened by the empty lot on her block, where a building used to stand before it was condemned and destroyed, young Marcy and her elderly neighbor Miss Rosa begin a community garden there, eventually involving everyone in the neighborhood in the project. After renting the land from the city, the would-be gardeners begin the clean-up, finding that people stop to help, and bring supplies as well. Even grouchy Old Man Hammer, who initially holds out and refuses to have any part in the new show more garden, eventually plants some seeds.

A wonderful exploration of the idea of communal city gardens, and reclaiming vacant lots as urban green spaces, City Green reminded me a bit of Peter Brown's The Curious Garden, which also features the theme of making cities greener. I enjoyed DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan's narrative here, I appreciated the fact that the reader is led to have greater empathy for the initially unlikable Old Man Hammer, over the course of the story, and I found the color artwork appealing. As an added bonus, the author/artist includes an afterword in which she offers some advice to young readers who might want to start a community garden in their own neighborhood. Recommended to anyone looking for hopeful stories about improving urban spaces, or about diverse communities working together. show less

Angelo and his grandfather like to play bocce together at the park, but unfortunately the park has been overrun by "tough kids" whose vandalism and general layabout behavior have stopped others from enjoying this community spot. But Angelo is determined to fix up the park for the better.

This was a good story in terms of talking about personal responsibility and determination while showing community togetherness and how things can change for the better. It is not unrealistically optimistic as show more there are setbacks along the way; however, it does end on a positive note.

While the picture book format often suggests short books on a young level, this title is actually fairly heavy on text and the topic is more something for kids in the upper ranges of elementary school. The illustration style is a little more cartoony than I prefer. show less

Uncle Willie is a volunteer at a soup kitchen in his town. He invites his nephew to come with him to see what goes on. At first the little boy is shy and uncomfortable, however, by the end of the day when he sees the impact he had on others, his attitude quickly changes. This story gives an inside perspective of what goes on in a soup kitchen and the kind of people that go there. One of the main details I enjoyed in this story were the illustrations. I felt that they were very appropriate show more for the mood and tone of the book. They corresponded really well with the message the author was trying to convey on each page. show less

“City Green” is a realistic fiction picture book for grades 1st through 3rd grade. First I was only going to give this book 4 out of 5 stars until I turned the last page, and I saw that it actually gave instructions on how to plant your own community garden, which definitely earned its 5 stars! I love the fact that this book provided an application from the story, I feel that providing a concrete purpose made this book much more effective for children. This book would also be great for show more children in urban areas to relate to, and also to show how they can improve their own community. This had a great message of perseverance and giving back to the community through an easy to follow and entertaining story line. The illustrations were also very amusing, each character each had their own personality in the pictures, which I believe really emphasizes the aspects of community. This is a great book, and an awesome read for young readers! show less