Eva sits on the front stoop of her New York walk-up, a notebook perched on her lap and a cinnamon danish to fortify her at her side. Her teacher has instructed her to “write what you know”. That’s Eva’s problem: what she knows is that nothing ever happens on 90th Street. As she sits, though, neighbouring merchants, cooks, and artistic tenants emerge from buildings and shops. Seeing that she is writing, they offer her advice. The out-of-work actor, Mr. Sims, tells her: “All the world’s a stage” and each has his role; she needs to be attentive to the actors on the stage before her. Alexis Leora, a sad-faced dancer, who likes to do her warm-ups on the stoop stairs and sidewalk, suggests that she stretch her imagination. But it’s kind Mrs. Martinez, who offers her a bowl of her homemade soup, that really gets the ball rolling. “Spice it up!” she tells Eva. “Add a little action!” So Eva does—first to real life, then to her story.

To amuse a little boy being pushed in a stroller, Eva tosses pieces of her cinnamon bun to the pigeons. Mayhem ensues. The little boy drops his red ball, which rolls into the street, causing a cyclist to fall, and a traffic jam. The result? All the people who live, work, and walk on the sidewalks of 90th street get talking. There are a few little problems to be solved. Is the cyclist okay? What about the little boy’s ball—can it be retrieved? And what to do about the cat who has leaped from his human’s arms?

In the end, of course, the problems are solved, and Eva has it all down on paper for posterity. Who said nothing ever happens on 90th Street?!

Schotter’s lively picture book with its angular off-kilter illustrations is a kind of kids’ guide to making it happen in writing and in life. The book appears on many lists of recommended books for language arts. I understand why: it is fast-paced; it has colourful, distinctive characters; the vocabulary is rich and sophisticated; and, finally, it gives some good advice to young writers.

It’s not exactly my type of picture book, as it feels just a bit too contrived and educational. Nevertheless, I can see that it would have its uses, and it is well done for the sort of book it is.

Rating: 3.5 ( )

The hardest about wiring is the first sentence , which is the most important one. Once you get the first sentence right , the rest will follow. Eva was trying to finish a homework where she had to write about whats going on on her neighborhood, however to her she was not paying attention to her surroundings the right way.She could not start writing until she took matters in to her own hands. . Even though someone may be living in time square , yet life could be very boring to them unless they decide to take an action. I believe this will be a great book to introduce to students during ELA. It gives students an insight about writing and their surrounding. We all live in a wonderful world , no matter where you live there is something amazing always happening. ( )

Use with students to encourage them to develop stories based on what they see around themselves.

This was not my favorite book I have chosen to do a read aloud in class. My teacher wanted me to use this as a prediction book and it was very difficult to be used in that way. Pictures are very detailed and go along with the story. There are a lot of words on each page and I think it takes away from the story with unneeded details. ( )

This book would be a great read aloud for k-2 and a good library book for grades up to5th. It is a perfect book for problem solving.