Home Sweet Neighborhood

November 15, 2018
Making a special, unique, even personal mark on a neighborhood can have benefits for all.It took thousands of years of human existence, from nomadic life to town or city dwelling, to create a sense of neighborhood. Then modern suburban life and urban blight seemed, at least partially, to break it down. Mulder posits that people, especially kids, have the power to rebuild that sense of neighborhood that so many generations knew. Readers are provided with copious examples of inventive and often brilliant ideas that have been implemented from locations around the world. There are pocket parks and gardens created in parking spots and other small spaces. Block parties, community festivals, street painting, pedestrian malls, knitters' corners, lending libraries, self-serve sharing stations, and many more community-building efforts are presented, almost all of which are the ideas of ordinary adults and children. These innovations are sometimes faced with initial opposition from neighbors concerned with noise or crowds or from officials, as in "That's public space--so no one can use it!" Loosely themed chapters offer brief explorations of each special place, illustrated with color photos. Scattered on the pages are sidebars with historic facts as well as places created in the author's own city of Victoria, British Columbia. Throughout, readers are encouraged to run with their own place-making ideas in their own communities.An upbeat view of innovations in modern living. (resources, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 9-12)

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December 15, 2018
Grades 4-6 This lively idea book invites kids to reimagine their neighborhoods as friendlier communities by offering multiple examples of changes taking place around the world as people reinvent their cities. Some of the projects described were top-down initiatives, such as an Albanian mayor's decision to repaint a number of buildings in blue and orange. Others concern sharing, from used books exchanged in little libraries to leftover food placed in outdoor refrigerators for anyone who's hungry. Most relevant are activities involving young people, from children making chalk drawings on sidewalks to kids using Minecraft to redesign public spaces, parks, and play areas and then submitting their plans to officials. Throughout the book, clear color photos help readers envision the projects described. While the first chapter opens by broadly surveying human history and the growth of cities, later ones jump quickly from one recent project to the next, celebrating new ideas tried in large and small cities throughout the world, and briefly reporting results in very positive terms. An intriguing book on a good topic.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)