Вандербикеры с 141-й улицы

I received a galley of this book from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books for Young Readers via NetGalley. This has not influenced my opinions or thoughts about this book.

Imagine a ragtag group of children ranging from almost-5 to 12 living in Harlem with a landlord like Mr. Heckles from Friends. Isn't that a charming premise? I enjoyed the warm relationship between the Vanderbeeker children and the strong, trust-oriented one between the children and their parents. The older neighbors upstairs who live between Mr. Beiderman and the Vanderbeekers are also delightful and oh so patient.

This would make a great read-aloud book for families with kids of any age. It even verges into some burgeoning young adult topics like the 8th grade dance and navigating those issues, making this a compelling book for all ages. Glaser also incorporates some diversity into the book with a mention of the Vanderbeeker family being biracial; from the brief mention, it seems that the children are half-Asian, but it's not a big aspect of the book.

Throughout the book, simple drawings accompany the text, which add a nice interactive element to the book and a good way to break up the material for younger audiences who may want to investigate more visually.

The Christmas subplot of the book seemed a bit thin, and it seemed only to serve one purpose – to prompt the Vanderbeeker kids to move fast in trying to convince Mr. Beiderman to let them stay in the house.

Overall, I think this is a great book for young readers and would recommend.