New York City has always been one of our favorite places to visit…. back when we were in college, my mom would come to visit, and Dan and I would take her to the city. This past December, my mom and I planned a trip to NYC, and while there we visited the Union Square Holiday Market. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend this market.

While browsing around the market, we happened upon Kip Cosson‘s booth. We noticed several children’s books and shirts with cute, colorful characters. We immediately struck up a conversation with Kip and found out he was an author. Right away Mom and I both fell in love with his book, Ned Visits New York.Kip’s first book, Ned Visits New York, is about a penguin from the South Pole named Ned. Ned is off to visit his pen pal, Meece Mouse, so he hops on an iceberg….the only way to travel from the South Pole, don’t you know. By the time Ned makes it to the Statue of Liberty, that iceberg is getting pretty thin, so he’s happy to arrive, his friend Meece Mouse excitedly greeting him.

The rest of the story involves Ned’s visit to NYC and all the exciting things he gets to see and do. The author features several real-life places within the story, making this book an exciting way to introduce kids to the city. With a planned trip to NYC soon, I was really excited to read this book with both Jaden and Jacob; they both enjoyed it, as well. Some of the places we were able to read about include Coney Island, Central Park, the uptown train, the art museum, Murray’s Cheese, the Museum of Natural History (a place we definitely plan to include in our visit), the toy store, a street fair (with Kip featured in the book as “a very cool artist” cat), Brooklyn, Times Square, a Broadway show, etc. Ned even got to ride in a taxi. At the end of the book, Kip includes a check list of things that Ned wanted to do while in the city, along with a map. This is a great guide for kids to be able to see where things are located in the city and all the exciting things there are to do.

Of course, not only does Kip write and illustrate his own books, but he also has a line of children’s clothing featuring his own hand painted artwork. Mom actually purchased both the book and a t-shirt for Jaden as a Christmas gift. The shirt features characters from the book and is so adorable.You can purchase Ned Visits New York for $16.00, and Kip will even autograph the book for you. He’s also written a second book, Ned & Meece The Wheels of New York. I highly recommend this book; it’s such a colorful story filled with adventure that kids will absolutely eat up and want to read over and over. Even my 9 year old son was excited to sit and look at the pictures as I read the story. If you have a visit to NYC planned for the near future, or maybe you just want to explore the city via the pages of a wonderful story….this is a story worth reading.

(Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post. This book was a Christmas gift to my son from his grandmother; I simply wanted to share this book with my readers for the sake of introducing an awesome story/author to them. All views/opinions remain solely my own.)