Three siblings take turns describing their family's trip to the city, with 14 panoramic pictures. Text runs down the left side of each two-page spread, in a two-and-a-half-inch column that looks as though it was printed by hand. First, Frankie describes going over the bridge, which looms above the city, in a big shuttle bus; Henry talks about all the underground networks, including the subway that they ride in; Penny is amazed by all the bustle and commerce of the city square. The family goes on to an enormous department store, the zoo, the esplanade, the aquarium, etc., before boarding the shuttle for home again. The stars of Harvey's book are his intricate illustrations, in dip pen and watercolor. There's a whiff of Where's Waldo? in their complexity, with myriad implied story lines and literally hundreds of people in some pictures. He even manages to sprinkle some pictures into the columns of text. Endlessly entertaining for all ages, as well as subtly educational. (Picture book. 5-9)

A family vacation is what brings siblings Frankie, Henry, and Penny to the big city, where they quickly lose themselves among the 3,425,740 people. The kids take turns summarizing each location visited, including a city square, zoo, market, beach, and skyscraper, narrating the events and the detailing the souvenirs gathered with the appropriate mundanity of a diary entry: "I kept a bottle of shampoo and some shower caps as souvenirs." The real star here is the dizzying artwork, sort of a watercolor take on Where's Waldo? (1987) that invites any reader to scrutinize the jam-packed scenes for the details mentioned by the children. There's so much going on that everyone will find something different; does anyone else see that piano being dropped from the bridge? Harvey has a mischievous mind rticularly in his cutaway view of the city sewers d sharp-eyed readers will find plenty of cackling monsters (and some tiny naked people, too) cavorting in the margins. Truly fearless searchers can examine the endpapers, which feature a bird's-eye map of the entire city.