This is what makes New York State weird and wonderful – North Country Public Radio
Sep 01, 2023 —
At my school when I was growing up, there were different classes of nerds. You had your math nerds, and your science nerds, and then there were the book worms. Of course, because I’m old, there weren’t any computer nerds yet.
Anyway, if there was one category I fell into in those days, I would have been called a geography nerd, or maybe a map geek. I loved any chance to learn about new places. I once got in trouble for running across a gas station parking lot to ask my dad if he could get me a road map of wherever we were, back in the days gas stations gave out road maps. In elementary school one year, the little milk cartons we got at lunch had facts about each of the states. I cut them out and saved them in a quixotic effort to collect all 50. I never did get Arkansas.
I’ve still never been to Paris, but I have a distinct image of the place from a picture book in my childhood library called This Is Paris. Maps and atlases and picture books were the way my world felt larger than the suburb where I was growing up.
So I would have loved Heather Alexander’s new book for kids. It’s called Only In New York: Weird and Wonderful Facts About the Empire State, and it’s one of those picture books that’s chock full of fun illustrations about all corners of our state and facts the 8-year old me would have repeated at the breakfast table. In fact, the 54-year old me kind of loves the book, anyway.
You can find out more about Heather by visiting her website. And you can let me know what you think of the book after you pick up your own copy by emailing [email protected]. Don’t forget to follow North Words so you never miss an episode.
Thanks for being with us.
