Response to Review of
Where Things Are, From Near to Far
Chris Steins
Citation: Steins, Chris. (2009). "Response to Review of Where Things Are, From Near to Far." Children, Youth and Environments 19 (1). Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/
Thanks for this very fun review. We're excited to have our modest contribution counted as a "must-read" book in the library of a 3-year-old planner!
On a more serious note, we struggled with the issue of how critical the book should be of various types of communities. By the third draft, we had tried hard to remove our own personal value judgments in the text (although they no doubt still exist in the illustrations). We know that lots of people live in suburbs and we wanted to recognize that every type of community has value. Ultimately the goal of this book was a gentle introduction to urban planning for children. Our test market for the book was my twin 3-year-old sons, and I just didn't feel right about pitching them into the heated battle over smart growth. They'll have plenty of time for that when we publish Where the Wild Things Really Are: Mommy and I Go to a Public Hearing.