Off the Beaten Path

Some interesting places to visit in NYC that are a bit off the beaten path, and the books that might inspire a visit.

• After reading the All-of-a-Kind-Family series take a trip to the Tenement Museum.  Or check out the Museum at Eldridge Street Synagogue, which currently (Summer-Fall 2011) has a family-friendly tour of locations inspired by the books. 

• The Noguchi Museum, located in Queens, is dedicated to exhibiting the art and sculpture and design of Isamu Noguchi.  Noguchi was the set designer for the ballet Appalachian Spring.  The story behind the ballet is told in Ballet for Martha: Making Appalachian Spring by Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, illustrated by Brian Floca.

• Sukkah City, an exhibit of sukkahs created by artists and architects which meet the technial, religious-legal requirements for sukkah-dom but which look nothing like a traditional sukkah.  Held in New York in 2010 only for a few days in the fall, around the time of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot, it is supposed to become an annual, multi-city affair.  Pair it with The House on the Roof by David Adler.  UPDATE: Unfortunately, I have just learned that there will be no Sukkah City in New York this year (2011), although there will be a similar event in Toronto.

• Take a trip to Morningside Heights and visit the The Cathedral of St. John the Divine.  See if you can figure out which letter a decorative element of the cathedral forms in Stephen Johnson's Alphabet City.  Then, walk down the block to see our local gargoyles.  Read Isabel Hill's Urban Animals and search for some animals too.  Finally, stop by my fabulous local children's bookstore.

• Visit the real lighthouse featured in Hildegard Swift's The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Grey Bridge.  It's not usually open but check the NYC parks department website  for the occasional tour or even there.  Even closed, it's fun to go see it in person and you can bike right up to it, as I did (see picture, above right)!

• After all that sightseeing you're tired, right?  You need a pretty, quiet place to sit down with a good book.  Well, if you're here between April and September, how about the Bryant Park Reading Room?  It's an open-air library with books and magazines you can borrow to read on the spot.  Or bring your own reading material and marvel at how beautiful and, yes, even peaceful, it is despite the midtown traffic just feet away.