Sonya Annita Song
has written a book
called “City of More,”
and it’s well worth a look!

Entertainment galore
waits on the pages,
along with great wisdom
to last through the ages.

“City of More”
is a light-hearted tale
about buying more stuff.
Perfect! How can it fail?

The Bigwigs have more
than they ever will need;
They zip all around
with insatiable greed

until their ‘stuff pile’
interferes with the zippers
upon which they zip
with their stuff-nipping nippers.

They do learn their lesson,
but is it too late?
Is drowning in stuff
the poor More Bigwig’s fate?

Enter their neighbors –
the people of “Less,”
who have a solution
for More’s great distress!

The rest you will learn
when you read the whole book
(which, as I said,
is a total ‘must look’).

If we could just learn
from the Bigwigs and small
and donate old stuff
where there’s no stuff at all

there isn’t a doubt
that the world would improve:
it’s the right time and place
for our conscience to move.

There’s just too much stuff
where it oughtn’t to be -
so much more than enough
that it’s silly, you see?

So, read “City of More”
with your children and friends
Oh, the difference you’ll make
with the message it sends!

And, while you are reading –
becoming empowered -
the fine illustrations
drawn by Daniel Howard

provide a reminder
of what art can do
to help a great story
LOOK wonderful, too!

In case you have questioned
why this review rhymes,
it’s written in tribute
to all of the lines

in “City of More”
by Sonya Annita Song
which are beautifully crafted
and never too long.

For not since the days
of a doctor called Seuss
have rhymes so ingenious
been put to good use

for changing the future
in a positive way.
Pick up “City of More,” folks,
and read it today!

Marvelous, inspiring, and magical. Truly a delight!

City of More is a Christian fable for children written by Sonya Annita Song and illustrated by Daniel Howard. In this entertaining and educational allegory, the inhabitants of the Cities of More and Less become aware of the plight of the inhabitants of the City of Not. The story begins with a look at the inhabitants of the City of More who are conspicuous in their obsession with buying stuff. When their need to acquire actually crowds them out of house and home, they decide to share their excess stuff with the inhabitants of the City of Less where each person has one of each thing, which they felt is quite enough. The lovely moral of the story is that, through the awareness of those in need, the disparate Cities become unified into the City of We.

Sonya Annita Song’s City of More is both fun and enlightening. While kids will laugh at the obvious excesses of the Bigwigs in the City of More, they will soon come to realize that the need to want more is more common than it should be. Song’s lyrical verses are brilliant and beg to be read aloud, and Daniel Howard’s bright and colorful illustrations make those Bigwigs and their many pigs come to life in the most amusing ways. City of More is an excellent opener for a dialog about the people who are in need -- both in the reader’s immediate environment and across the globe -- and the ways those who have can conserve and share. By the acts of charity recommended throughout the story, Cities of More, Less and Not can be transformed into Cities of We. City of More is highly recommended.

City of More by Sonya Annita Song takes young readers to three cities where there are Bigwigs, Smallwigs, and Nowigs. Bigwigs in the City of More move around on zippers that really zip off the ground. There is always a flow because the zippers are zipping and the Bigwigs can be seen shopping with big bobbing wigs. They are adorned with accessories, they have more than one of each thing, and they can tap dance and sing. The Smallwigs have less in their City of Less and they are happy with what they have. The Nowigs who live in the City of Not are poor and they have nothing.

This beautiful book tackles the topic of inequality that is rampant in society in a way that is easy for children to understand. The illustrations by Daniel Howard give clarity to the author's concept and makes the City of More, the City of Less, and the City of Not tangible to young readers. This book is all about sharing and giving, and the author speaks about it in a very charming and interesting way. The approach is refreshing and unique and will encourage children to share their stuff if they have lots of things as is put aptly in the book; the more you have, the more you can share. The rhyming verses give a lyrical quality while reading and it is a good book for poetry reading sessions in classrooms and school libraries to help children understand inequality.

There are groups of people who hoard, who are greedy and want more of everything. There are groups of people who have just enough and don’t want anything else. And then there are the poor – they have nothing. So, when the people with too much from the City of More almost become buried with all their stuff, they realize they have to do something to alleviate the clutter. They approach the City of Less, who are not struggling in any way, but they are more conservative in what they accumulate: one of each is quite enough. The City of Less doesn’t want the excess from the City of More, but the mayor of the City of Less does have a good suggestion, one that even the City of Less decides to assist in implementing.

Sonya Annita Song’s picture book story, City of More, is a delightful tale to teach young readers the importance of sharing and not being too greedy. Told in rhyming verse, the plot progresses through the greed of the people of the City of More as they continually accumulate until they are overwhelmed with too much stuff, leading up to the need for a healthy resolution to their problem. When the City of More approaches the City of Less, the two mayors must use tactical diplomatic skills in their negotiations, another useful tool for young readers. By this point, the young reader will be anxious to share his or her solution to the problem before the story spells it out. Accompanied by colorful and descriptive illustrations, this humorous little tale is a great way to teach young readers some valuable morals.