My little girl loves New York.

She was born there, and we lived in the city for six weeks until we closed on our apartment in New Jersey.  But even when we left the city, we could still see it every day:

And every night:

She knew which building was the Empire State Building.  She knew which building housed my office.  She knew about the Lincoln Tunnel, Central Park, and the Children’s Museum of Manhattan.  She rode the bus, the subway, and the NY Waterway ferry.  In the city, she was in her element.  When we took her apple-picking in Rockland County, she stamped her foot and announced that she did NOT want to pick apples; she wanted to ride the CAROUSEL.

We moved to Colorado just after she turned three, and although we’ve been here for nearly two years, she still asks me at least once a week: “When can we go back to New York?”

So when “Where Was I? New York!” arrived in our mailbox - addressed and inscribed to her by the author, Dave Carberry - she insisted that we sit right down on the driveway and read it immediately.

The book explores the highlights of a trip to New York.  Written in first-person, the simple descriptions of the sights and activities are a great way to remind kids of what they’ve done and seen - or even to get them excited about an upcoming trip.  The illustrations are bright and cheerful, detailed without being distracting.  From the Statue of Liberty to the subway underneath Grand Central Station, horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, Broadway shows and gigantic toy stores - “Where Was I? New York!” covers a lot of ground in only about fifteen pages.

Dave Carberry has more “Where Was I?” books in the works, including Baltimore, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.  “Where Was I? New York!” is currently available at Lulu.com, and you can get more information about his series of books at the official “Where Was I?” website.

As I keep telling Tacy, we’ll make it back to New York someday.  In the meantime, we can remember how much fun we once had there.