Larry Bites the Big Apple: Larry Gets Lost in New York City by Michael Mullin

THERE WAS NO ROOM FOR TRAIN TRACKS ON THE SURFACE, SO THE FAMILY BOUGHT TICKETS AND WENT UNDERGROUND.

FROM THE TRAIN LARRY LUNGED FOR A TRIANGLE-SHAPED SNACK.

QUITE SURE HE COULD EAT IT IN TIME TO GET BACK, HE GRABBED IT AND CHOMPED, SENDING CHEESE INTO THE AIR.

THEN LARRY HEARD A LOUD WHOOOOOOSH! AND SAW PETE WASN'T THERE!

Larry, the lop-eared pup who has an uncanny knack for getting himself lost in big cities, is at it again, this time dashing through the subway door to retrieve a dropped pizza slice from the platform, only to hear the automated door close and watch the subway, with Pete peering mournfully out the back window, recede into the tunnel.

But Larry is a plucky pooch, and he sets out to find Pete in the wilds of Manhattan, in the course of which young readers are taken on a guided tour of the iconic sights of New York City. Lost Larry races through Grand Central Station, the United Nations flag court, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, the Empire State Building, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum, MOMA, Yankee Station, and all the those famous scenes, as Pete and family pursue him uptown and downtown, until at last the wayward canine catches a lucky break, a sympathetic face among the madding Manhattan masses:

HE SAW A YOUNG GIRL TYING HER LACES.

LARRY GAVE HER ONE OF HIS "I'M LOST. HELP ME!" FACES.

HER MOM PATTED HIS HEAD AND CHECKED HIS ID.

"NOW I'LL FIND PETE." LARRY THOUGHT. "LUCKY ME!"

AND FIND HIM HE DID.

Larry's happy-go-lucky owners never seem to learn that they should leash Larry or leave him at home when they vacation, but Larry's temporary loss is our gain, giving us the opportunity to see the sights of big cities, and Michael Mullin's latest, Larry Gets Lost in New York City, (Sasquatch Books, 2010) is a wonderful beginner's tour of the Big Apple. Larry travels in almost every known form of transport, from yellow taxicabs to the Staten Island Ferry and hits all the hot spots for out-of-town tourists, with informational sidebars on most pages adding the fascinating facts about each place. The lost-dog adventure ties together the travelogue in a plot which goes down well for early elementary readers, while artist John Skews provides the reader with a pup's-eye view of the Empire City which provides the opportunity for a variety of perspectives which add visual interest to the 1950s-style watercolored drawings of those familiar New York vistas. For families planning to take in the big city or for early elementary classes studying New York as an archetype of urban areas, this large-format picture book has the goods on Gotham City.

Other books in the "lost Larry" series include Larry Gets Lost in San Francisco, Larry Gets Lost in Los Angeles, Larry Gets Lost in Chicago, and Larry Gets Lost in Seattle. Maybe the series finale for this one will be Larry Gets a GPS! 'Till then it's a treat to take in the major metropolises with Larry.