A brown-skinned girl and her dad leave their brownstone building in the morning, journeying through the busy city, including a ride on a crowded subway, to her school and classroom. Their progress is tracked completely in a narrative comprised of prepositional phrases ("across the street, outside the station, at the booth, beyond the turnstile / below the ground..." ). The striking collage illustrations are filled with the buzz of a busy big city, but amid all the details, readers will always be able to find the protagonist in her bright red shirt. While school is her ultimate destination, a double-page illustration at the end of the book retraces her return trip at the end of the day and takes her right up until bedtime. With a turn of the final page, she's "out the door" again as a new day begins. (Ages 3-7)

Follow a girl through her day in a busy city as she travels to school and back again in this inviting book that teaches directional concepts like over, under, and through.

Out the door,
down the stoop,
past the neighbors,
along the block ...

Through tree-lined streets, onto a crowded subway car, into the classroom with friends, and finally, retracing her steps back home again. There's so much to see in Christy Hale's warm, richly textured collage artwork and simple, evocative text set in a busy Brooklyn cityscape.

Out the Door is the perfect back-to-school book for young kids learning to find their way around a city. Parents and teachers can use this read-aloud to familiarize kids with a host of directional words to describe their first school days.

A New York Public Library Best Book of the Year
A School Library Journal Best Book of the Year
A Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year