“In Brooklyn / in the summer / not so long ago” is the refrain in this joyful, nostalgic picture book about the freewheeling play of a group of children on a particular city block. In the summer, grown-ups are always busy with something or other, but “us kids were free as air. Free as sun. Free as summer.” On a street where Spanish, English, Polish, German, and Chinese are spoken, where famous baseball players and singers and writers grew up, kids open fire hydrants for relief from the heat (instantly curling the Black narrator’s straightened hair). They play skully with tar-filled bottle caps, jump double Dutch, and scrape their knees. They build forts out of cardboard boxes, play stickball and steal-the-bacon and kick-the-can and tag. They chase the ice cream truck and tell stories. Every free moment between breakfast and dinner is spent in the glorious outdoors, where everything feels possible. Judging by the retro clothing and Afros in the vibrant art, the story takes place in the 1960s or 1970s, providing a snapshot of the carefree kid culture of a particular time and place.  ©2022 Cooperative Children’s Book Center (Ages 4-8)

Two children’s book superstars—#1 New York Times bestseller Jacqueline Woodson, the author of The Day You Begin, and Leo Espinosa, the illustrator of Islandborn­—join forces to celebrate the joy and freedom of summer in the city, which is gloriously captured in their rhythmic text and lively art.

It's getting hot outside, hot enough to turn on the hydrants and run through the water--and that means it's finally summer in the city! Released from school and reveling in their freedom, the kids on one Brooklyn block take advantage of everything summertime has to offer: Freedom from morning till night to go out to meet their friends and make the streets their playground--jumping double Dutch, playing tag and hide-and-seek, building forts, chasing ice cream trucks, and best of all, believing anything is possible. That is, till their moms call them home for dinner. But not to worry--they know there is always tomorrow to do it all over again--because the block belongs to them and they rule their world.

(This book is also available in Spanish, as El mundo era nuestro!)