Eisner Award–nominated author Nadja Spiegelman (Zig and Wikki in Something Ate My Homework) and European cartoonist Sergio García Sánchez, making his U.S. debut, deftly combine history, geography and a touch of engineering in a graphic novel centered on a budding friendship between two classmates on a field trip in New York City.
Mr. Bartle introduces new student Pablo to the class, and Alicia volunteers to be his field trip partner. The teacher asks which subway line comes closest to the Empire State Building, the destination for their field trip, and the kids tick off N, R, Q, 1, 2, 3 and 6. Mr. Bartle agrees, "All these will work." A subway map with a superimposed Empire State Building validates their answers. Even native New Yorkers will likely learn something from Mr. Bartle's history of both the tallest building in the world (when it opened in 1931) and the construction of the subway system (a chronology unfolds in black-and-white photographs with interconnected dialogue balloons). At 96th Street, Alicia and Pablo get separated from the group, hopping on the express while their class takes the local train. They blame each other, and at 42nd Street, Pablo angrily dashes to the 7 train, losing Alicia.
In a clever wordless spread, Sánchez charts all three routes (taken by Alicia, Pablo and their class) with a close-up grid of the subway. A happy reunion in the lobby of the Empire State Building seals the friendship between Alicia and Pablo. New Yorkers and newcomers alike will savor the bounty of interesting facts.
[Also available in a Spanish-language edition: Perdidos en NYC (9781935179856), translated by Lola Moral.] --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness