Last Stop on Market Street

This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force.

De la Peña and Robinson here are carrying on for Ezra Jack Keats in spirit and visual style. This quietly remarkable book will likely inspire questions... it will also have some adult readers reaching for a tissue.

Like still waters, de la Pena (A Nation's Hope) and Robinson's (Gaston) story runs deep. It finds beauty in unexpected places, explores the difference between what's fleeting and what lasts, acknowledges inequality, and testifies to the love shared by an African-American boy and his grandmother. On Sunday, CJ and Nana don't go home after church like everybody else. Instead, they wait for the Market Street bus. "How come we don't got a car?" CJ complains. Like many children his age, CJ is caught up in noticing what other people have and don't have; de la Pena handles these conversations with grace. "Boy, what do we need a car for?" she responds. "We got a bus that breathes fire, and old Mr. Dennis, who always has a trick for you." (The driver obliges by pulling a coin out of CJ's ear.) When CJ wishes for a fancy mobile music device like the one that two boys at the back of the bus share, Nana points out a passenger with a guitar. "You got the real live thing sitting across from you." The man begins to play, and CJ closes his eyes. "He was lost in the sound and the sound gave him the feeling of magic." When the song's over, the whole bus applauds, "even the boys in the back." Nana, readers begin to sense, brings people together wherever she goes. Robinson's paintings contribute to the story's embrace of simplicity. His folk-style figures come in a rainbow of shapes and sizes, his urban landscape accented with flying pigeons and the tracery of security gates and fire escapes. At last, CJ and Nana reach their destination--the neighborhood soup kitchen. Nana's ability to find "beautiful where he never even thought to look" begins to work on CJ as the two spot people they've come to know. "I'm glad we came," he tells her. Earlier, Nana says that life in the deteriorated neighborhood makes people "a better witness for what's beautiful." This story has the same effect. Ages 3-5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Jan.)

Copyright 2014 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

The urban setting is truly reflective, showing people with different skin colors, body types, abilities, ages, and classes in a natural and authentic manner... A lovely title.

Praise for LAST STOP ON MARKET STREET
Winner of the 2016 Newbery Medal
A 2016 Caldecott Honor Book
A 2016 Coretta Scott King Illustrator Honor Book
#1 New York Times Bestseller
A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2015
An NPR Best Book of 2015
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2015
A Wall Street Journal Best Book of 2015
A 2015 Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year
A Horn Book Best Book of 2015
BookPage's "2015's First Must-Read Picture Book"
The Huffington Post Best Overall Picture Book of 2015
A Boston Globe Best Book of 2015
A Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2015
Chosen for the New York Public Library's 100 Books for Reading & Sharing List
A Miami Herald Best Children's Book of 2015
A Raleigh News & Observer Best Children's Book of 2015
An Atlanta Parent Best Book of 2015
A San Francisco Chronicle Holiday Gift Guide Pick
A Center for the Study of Multicultural Children's Literature "Best Multicultural Books of 2015" Pick
A Scholastic Instructor 50 Best Summer Book
Chosen for the ALSC 2015 Summer Reading List
A Horn Book Summer 2015 Reading List Pick
Chosen for School Library Journal's 2015 Top 10 Latin Books List
A Kansas City Star Thanksgiving 2015 Roundup Pick
A Winter 2014-2015 Kids' Indie Next Pick
2015 E.B. White Read Aloud Award Finalist
Nominated for the 2016 Washington Children's Choice Picture Book Award
Nominated for the 2016 Kentucky Bluegrass Award
Four Starred Reviews!

"It's also the warmth of their intergenerational relationship that will make this book so satisfying, for both young readers and the adults sharing it with them."—The New York Times Book Review

"That material poverty need not mean spiritual or imaginative poverty becomes beautifully clear in the quietly moving pages of 'Last Stop on Market Street," a picture book by Matt de la Peña filled with Christian Robinson's vibrant naïf illustrations."—The Wall Street Journal

"Matt de la Peña's warmhearted story is musical in its cadences...Christian Robinson's angular, bright illustrations are energetic and vibrant... [A] celebration of the joys of service, the gifts of grandmothers and the tenderness that the city can contain."—The Washington Post

"The sharp illustrations — in bold, and cheerful primaries — get CJ's restless energy and curious postures exactly right. The voices of CJ and his grandmother carry the story along in subtle point and counterpoint so that at this book's quiet close you feel like you've been listening to a song."—The Boston Globe

★ "This celebration of cross-generational bonding is a textual and artistic tour de force."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

★ "Like still waters, de la Peña and Robinson's story runs deep. It finds beauty in unexpected places, explores the difference between what's fleeting and what lasts, acknowledges inequality, and testifies to the love shared by an African-American boy and his grandmother."—Publishers Weekly, starred review

★ "De la Peña and Robinson here are carrying on for Ezra Jack Keats in spirit and visual style. This quietly remarkable book will likely inspire questions... it will also have some adult readers reaching for a tissue."—The Horn Book, starred review

"The urban setting is truly reflective, showing people with different skin colors, body types, abilities, ages, and classes in a natural and authentic manner... A lovely title."—School Library Journal

"It's not often that you see class addressed in picture books in ways that are subtle and seamless, but Last Stop on Market Street, the affectionate story of a young boy and his grandmother, does just that...This ode to gratitude is 2015's first must-read picture book."—BookPage

"If Robinson doesn't win this year's Caldecott, then next year could be the one with his name on it. His remarkable Last Stop on Market Street (with Matt de la Peña), is an early favorite for the best picture book of 2015."—Huffington Post Books

★ "With the precision of a poet, Matt de la Peña chronicles a boy's heartwarming Sunday morning routine with his nana. Christian Robinson's uplifting palette and culturally diverse cast brightens the rainy-day backdrop."—Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Bright colors and streamlined shapes keep the urban setting and its denizens cheerful, emphasizing the positive message."—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"This story is full of figurative language and the art provides a distinct contemporary feel to support this urban story."—SLC