No. 5 Bubblegum Street

by Mikolaj Pa, Gosia Herba (Illustrator)

Overview

For fans of Richard Scarry comes a zany peek into a busy apartment building, and what the one-of-a-kind residents are up to.

There’s a lot happening inside the apartment building on Bubblegum Street. There’s Mouse, a famous rapper, who lives on the ground floor and is getting ready to go out. Panther, the plant collector, has plants from every single continent. Hippo snores in his favorite armchair, dreaming of a great Arctic adventure. In the attic apartment, Bat is practicing a new dance routine, while in apartment number two, the monkeys are baking a “Speckled Orange Orangutan Cake.”

You can hear music playing and very loud snoring too. The delicious aroma of cake wafts through the stairwell, and there’s always something tapping, knocking, shuffling, and ringing… until 6:00 PM, when they all gather on the rooftop terrace for their weekly party to show off their talents.

Get ready for an unforgettable tour of No. 5 Bubblegum Street! Why don’t you come in and meet the neighbors? 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781778400629
Publisher:	Greystone Books
Publication date:	05/14/2024
Pages:	56
Sales rank:	947,382
Product dimensions:	8.75(w) x 11.25(h) x (d)
Lexile:	AD660L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Mikołaj Pa is a graduate of cultural studies, a graphic designer, writer, and collage artist living in Wrocław, Poland. He is the author of graphic novels and books for children.

Gosia Herba has been working for publishers, magazines, music labels, and ad agencies for the last fifteen years. She’s also an illustrator and author of books for children and graphic novels.

Editorial Reviews

Delightful…young readers who like to examine details will be in heaven. Offer this to fans of Richard Scarry’s Busytown books.”
—Youth Services Book Review, STARRED review

From the Publisher

2024-03-23
The animal residents of No. 5 Bubblegum Street are an eclectic bunch.

An insect narrator offers readers a peek into apartments filled with baking monkeys, a houseplant-hoarding panther, a family of musical spiders, an adventure-loving hippo, and many more creative creatures, all living side by side as friends and neighbors. Translated from Polish, this slice-of-life story sequentially introduces the inhabitants of each household, all of whom contribute their special talents to a party at the end. Young readers may lose interest with the slow pace and sometimes wordy descriptions. Still, it’s worth taking the time to pore over the lively, detailed illustrations, rendered in bold colors in a charmingly childlike hand-drawn style. Each apartment is as unique as its residents, and many characters have a signature color or two, such as Mouse’s bright red-orange decor, the soothing blues and greens of Panther’s plants, and the gray and black hues used to depict Bat’s home. Everything comes together in a riot of color and pattern at the party. Many pages feature multiple small, labeled vignettes reminiscent of Richard Scarry’s Busytown books. The book also makes fun use of sound; birds squeak and tweet, Hippo snores, and the spiders play a homemade “accordiohorn.” In their joyful coexistence, these very different neighbors gently model acceptance and kindness.

A leisurely tale brought to life by illustrations that vibrate with color, sound, and movement. (Picture book. 5-8)

Kirkus Reviews