Scene-stealing illustrations by Max Dalton convey the storyвЂ™s nostalgic sensibility. In a happenstance befitting this warm, quirky story, it turns out that the author and I reside in the same building just a few blocks from the real phone booth, at 100th Street and West End Avenue, that inspired his book. The Lonely Phone Booth, the first childrenвЂ™s book by Peter Ackerman, a screenwriter and playwright, takes a more intimate look at a slice of life in a New York City neighborhood.

In a world in which objects we love and recognize as part of the integral fabric of our lives are disappearing at a rapid rate, here is a story about the value of the analog, the power of the peopleвЂ™s voice, and the care and respect due to those things that have served us well over time. How the Phone Booth saved the day and united the neighborhood to rally around its revival is the heart of this soulful story. until, the day a businessman strode by and shouted into a shiny silver object, вЂњIвЂ™ll be there in ten minutes!вЂќ Soon everyone was talking into these shiny silver things, and the Phone Booth stood alone and empty, unused and dejected. Kept clean and polished, the Phone Booth was proud and happy. Everyone used it - from ballerinas and girl scouts, zookeepers and birthday clowns, to cellists and even secret agents! The Phone Booth was so beloved that people would sometimes wait in line to use it. This is the story of one of the last remaining phone booths in New York City, the Phone Booth on the corner of West End Avenue and 100th.

Remember the days when phone booths stood on every street corner? If you had to make a call, youвЂ™d step inside the little booth, lift the phone off the hook, put a coin in the slot, listen for the click, push the buttons, and hear it ring? And for only 25 cents, in the quiet of the booth, you could call your grandmother, or let the office know you were running late, or get directions for a birthday partyвЂ¦

Waiting in a phonebox