Hi! I’m Cara Hoffman. I write books about adventurous mice, lock picking lizards, revolutionary rats, coffee addicted squirrels, fast-talking bodega cats, beautiful queens and opera singing frogs. I also write books for adults, which are essentially the same but with no talking animals and much sadder endings. You can read those books when you’re tall enough to ride the roller coaster at Coney Island, but not before.

I live in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, near Chinatown, across from a beautiful park and close to the East River. I spend my time writing, drinking tea, supporting a frog sanctuary, riding my bike, and exploring the city.

New York is a good place to be if you’re curious.

For part of the year I live in Greece and in Maine.

Here are some things I love about New York City, some things Bernard and Ivy love about the city, and some things I think maybe YOU will love too.

DID YOU KNOW…

There are more than ONE HUNDRED hidden community gardens all over Manhattan. Some of them where you’d least expect it. Most of these gardens are smack in the middle of The East Village, in spots where buildings burned down a long time ago. These gardens have ponds, treehouses, rabbits, chickens and frogs. You can even wake up early and go to the Chelsea Flower Market—and if you’re lucky run into Henry and Bernard.

You can wander around The Strand—They have 18 MILES OF BOOKS!! EIGHTEEN MILES!!! Almost as many as Leon has, books from ceiling to floor, books everywhere! You can also go to Books of Wonder and you SHOULD, It’s cozy. Every Saturday they have a story reading, or if you like to read quietly you can find a special spot among the shelves. You can also visit the New York Public Library which has stories, talks, movies and things to do almost every day. In fact, there are 92 branches of the New York Public Library, every neighborhood has one.

There are great playgrounds in Manhattan! Central park alone has 21 playgrounds, some of them have fountains and crazy crazy climbing structures. Oh look here’s a map! There’s even a statue of BERNARD, in Central Park! It’s at East 74th street, near the Fifth avenue entrance. There are also dozens of WATER PLAYGROUNDS in New York City.

You can go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art—and pay just a penny to get in! They have mummies there. You can visit the dozens and dozens of free art galleries downtown. Here’s a map! Oh look, there’s even more free art in Chelsea! Every Friday evening the Musuem of Modern Art is FREE. You can go there and see weird things like THIS and THIS and even THIS.

Because Manhattan is an Island you can always take a boat somewhere and find a beach. I’m afraid you can’t ride the Cross Town Ferry—that’s for animals only—but you CAN take a FREE ride on the Staten Island Ferry and get up close to the Statue of Liberty. You can also take a ferry to Governors Island. In the summer you can take a ferry to Rockaway Beach, or visit Brighton Beach and Coney Island where you can see sandcastles like you’ve never seen before, and SWIM!

Remember Friends! The City is Ours. It’s Ours!