There is much to love about In Lucia’s Neighborhood, the picture book by Pat Shewchuk and Marek Colek that grew out of the duo’s celebrated animated short film Montrose Avenue. Opening with an epigraph from Jane Jacobs’ The Death and Life of Great American Cities (“The ballet of the good city sidewalk never repeats itself”), the story goes on to show how the urban theorist’s sidewalk ballet is enacted every day on one street in Toronto’s Little Portugal neighbourhood.

Shewchuk and Colek are the talents behind the renowned Tin Can Forest film and art studio, and images are clearly their forte. The illustrations are perfectly detailed, with bright red streetcars and Victorian houses featuring the city’s ubiquitous three-paned windows and wrought-iron porch railings. The story falters in its prose, however, which worked well in the film when narrated by a young girl and set against music. As text, the narrative is stilted and missing the sense of movement and fluidity a true city-sidewalk ballet would suggest.

Where both people and places are concerned, Shewchuk and Colek demonstrate that the key to a liveable cityscape is diversity. They show that a bustling city street is more than simply the frenzy of movement it might at first appear to be – it is also home to many people whose lives intersect in interesting ways, and whose roots in the community and its traditions run deep.

For disciples of Jane Jacobs and fans of urban picture books by authors such as Joanne Schwartz, Allan Moak, and Dennis Lee, In Lucia’s Neighborhood will hold great appeal.