By Colorado Kids Advisory Board member Sydney Guthrie

Title: The Mayor of Central Park
Author: Avi
Illustrator: Brian Floca
Publisher: HarperCollins
Number of pages: 191

Oscar Westerwit is a squirrel who is also mayor of Central Park in New York City. Oscar thinks Central Park is the greatest place on earth until Big Daddy Duds decides to take it over with a gang of downtown rats. The Mayor of Central Park is a great book that tells the story of Oscar's fight to save Central Park and all the animals that live there.

I enjoyed this book because I like baseball and funny adventures. Oscar is the manager of a baseball team in Central Park and they have a big game against Big Daddy Dud's team by the end of the book. Oscar also makes an army out of his animal friends, and has a big battle with Big Daddy Duds.

There is also Maud, who lives with Big Daddy Duds, but meets Oscar and has to decide whether to help him.

The book is easy to follow but has some tricky words and phrases. At one point, the story teller says "you got yourself a story busting to trot itself up Broadway like a tap-dancing centipede." I had to think about what that one meant. I would recommend it to kids in 3rd grade or older.

If you enjoy this book you would also likely enjoy other books by Avi such as Poppy, The Barn and Devil's Race. (March, 2004)