Do you have a little one who dreams of being a police officer, loves horses, or can’t get enough of the lights and sights of Times Square? Then “Finnegan and Fox: The Ten-Foot Cop” by Helen L. Wilbur is the perfect read.
You’ve got to be calm and cool to be a New York City cop. It takes nerves of steel and months of training, because anything can happen on a busy city street.
Nobody knows that more than 10-year-old, 1,256-pound Finnegan the horse. He and his human partner, Tyrone Jefferson Fox (or T.J., for short) work the Times Square beat, a place where visitors and tourists like to go. It’s always crowded there.
Every morning, Finnegan and Fox start their day by checking the neighborhood. They say “hello” to Hussan with his fruit-and-vegetable cart. Officer Serafina Ruiz always gives T.J. a big smile. Food-Cart Tony gives T.J. his morning coffee and pats Finnegan on the nose, because really, who doesn’t like a horse?
For sure, everybody in Times Square did every day, but one day, lots of people stopped to say hello to Officers Finnegan and Fox. That included a group of kids on a school visit from Cheyenne, Wyo. One of them, a little girl named Maggie who loved horses, really fell in love with Finnegan. Finnegan liked her, too.
But much as he would have liked to be hugged all day, Finnegan had to get back to work with his partner. There were tourists to help, traffic to direct, and tickets to write. It was another busy day in Times Square with lots to do, including looking for a lost little girl.
Most kids might think that horses and big cities don’t go together. They probably think that horses belong in grassy corrals, not crowded streets. Which is why most kids will be delighted with “Finnegan and Fox.”
Wilbur’s story will surely make future law officers want to join the mounted patrol. Heck, after reading this story, I wanted a horse like Finnegan — partly because Wilbur gave him a winning personality, and partly because artist John Manders made Finnegan almost human in his illustrations.
If your 3- to 6-year-old is an animal lover, dreams of becoming a police officer, or “hearts” New York, then this adorable book is one they’ll ask you to read again and again.
For them, “Finnegan and Fox: The Ten-Foot Cop” will be quite arresting.
“Finnegan and Fox: The Ten-Foot Cop” by Helen L. Wilbur [32 pages, 2013, $16.95].
Terri Schlichenmeyer has been reading since she was 3 years old, and she never goes anywhere without a book. She lives on a hill with two dogs and 12,000 books.
