From Manhattan to Hudson Bay (and every place before, between and after), from hockey to baseball history, from plants and flowers, from being the first national capital, to hosting the oldest inn in the continental US, from parks and museums and attractions, from animals and castles, Only in New York covers it all in this kids encyclopedic like book.
Heather Alexander shows us that we can craft our own kazoo in the Kazoo Museum in Eden, New York. We find out the state fossil, the state abbreviation, the capital cith, and so much more. Each page is stuffed with facts and fun. Did you know that four New York governors have become president; and five presidents were born in New York? Or that the Albany area was once called Beverwyck (beaver district)? Well, you do now, and you can learn this and more (such as the state snack, about sponge candy, Cooney Island history and the hot dog, what a slice is, bagels and lox, and nonfood facts too like the state bird can sing with its beak closed) in this fun book due early September 2023.
I read this via an online reader copy and do plan on finding a final copy as I want to see how Joseph Moffat-Peña’s illustrations come out. They are crowded on the page, with the text wrapped in them (or illustrations around text, depending on your point of view). They are not colorful in the neon-popping way, but they do not lack snap and pizazz!
What was my favorite fact? Maybe that New York was the first state in 1901 to require license plates but did not require seatbelts as mandatory wearing until 1984. Or maybe the inventions such as potato chips, hot dogs, pipe cleaners. Or maybe learning that the first NYC St. Patrick’s Day parade was fourteen years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Of course, the change makers were interesting as well (where else are you going to see Susan B. Anthony and Babe Ruth and Shirley Chisholm and Lucille Ball all on the same page in a book?)
I know I just gave you even more information there, but trust me, that didn’t scratch the surface! I am hoping for this author/illustration duo will create/has created all 50 states. 
