The Mayor of Central Park

I enjoyed The Mayor of Central Park a great deal, but I was puzzled by its popularity among youth. The book is set at the turn of the 20th century in New York city, and is written in an old-fashioned vernacular using a lot of the regional lingo and slang from that era. I realized, while reading this book, that I tend to assume that today's YA readers are only interested in contemporary stories, or science fiction and fantasy. I am happy to be proved wrong in this assumption. The Mayor of Central Park is a Young Reader's Choice Award nominee, and the YRCA nominations are made by young readers primarily, as well as their teachers and librarians. I am delighted that today's readers are interested in this book and have made it quite show more popular.

The book features Oscar Westerwit, a squirrel and the unofficial mayor of Central Park. Oscar, like many of the book's characters, is obsessed with baseball and plays shortstop on the park's team. Oscar is preparing for a big game when, without warning, his star pitcher disappears and the park is invaded by a large gang of rats lead by Big Daddy Duds, a gangster and jewel thief. The residents of the park face real danger when the rats take over their homes and threaten them with guns, and they all turn to Oscar for help. Brian Floca's supplementary illustrations imaginatively depict animals living as humans, their clothes, their homes, their gestures and expressions. The drawings are a charming accompaniment to Avi's story.

Avi's style choices throughout this book are fascinating. The author has created a nostalgic, highly stylized, and poetic piece that is refreshingly different from the more formulaic work of other authors. The book is highly alliterative, with sing-song phrases that create a momentum which propels readers through each page, perhaps without stopping to be sure of meaning. One young reviewer sums up this experience when she says, "The book is easy to follow but has some tricky words and phrases. At one point, the story teller says 'you got yourself a story busting to trot itself up Broadway like a tap-dancing centipede.' I had to think about what that one meant" (Sydney Guthrie, Colorado Kids Book Reviews).

The Mayor of Central Park is intended for fourth to sixth grade readers, although it may enjoyable for younger kids as well, especially if read-aloud. While it is a delightfully light and innocent romp through the Central Park of the past (if we imagine that it was inhabited by talking, ball-playing animals), it also has some elements of danger and some moral ambiguity in its surprisingly complex characters that make it appealing to the sophisticated, young readers of today. show less

Life is good for Oscar Westerwit. He's the mayor of Central Park -- the greatest place on earth for the squirrels, chipmunks, mice, and other animals who live there. He's the shortstop and manager of his baseball team. What could be bad? Plenty! Big Daddy Duds, jewel thief, all-around thug, and leader of rats, is about to take over the park. And when he does, the other animals who live there will be turned out of their homes. Everyone looks to Oscar to save the day, but he may not even be able to save himself. . . .

Little Kid Reaction: The sounds of a heavy Brooklyn accent jump right off the page. You can't help but sound (in your head) like a New Yorker from the 1920s as you read this book. The language made it all the more fun. I didn’t think it was necessary to have a narrator, but I enjoyed his narration all the same. I liked that a quiet, competent, thinker like Maud ended up saving the day using a skill she didn’t care for to help those for whom she did. I think Avi’s books are better in groups, because once you read one you’ll want to read similar ones.

Big Kid Reaction: Review pending.

To read our full review, go to The Reading Tub®.

I liked this book! This book is interesting, especially the idea of the animals ruling the world. I enjoyed how there were many different animals, who have power based on their size and there personality. I think this is a fun book to read that will not take such a long time to read. I think that this book it very interesting how it is based in real life but all the characters in the life has been changed. This book was good because it kept me interested throughout the book.