Big city life in a condo spawns new book for children

Big city life when you're a child doesn't necessarily mean living in a house with a white picket fence on a tree-lined street.

It can mean living in a high-rise building, with lots of people nearby, on different floors. There are children to play with and parks a short walk away. And there are adventures to be had.

This vertical reality has led to a new children's book,The Condo Kids: Adventures with Bob the Barbary Sheep.

At 70 pages long, the book features children who live in condos and whowant to adopt a pet. Theysneak one in from a nearby zoo andgo to great lengthsto hide it from the adults.

"Adventure is just an elevator ride away..." reads the promotional material for the book.

Jackie Burns, a Toronto writer, told Metro Morning on Monday thatearly years with her first son prompted her to write the book.

Burns, her husband AnthonyDurkacz and their boys, Nathaniel, 9, and Benjamin, 6, still live in a condo. She said the idea came from the first condo in which her family lived.

"We were raising Nathaniel in a downtown condo at Church and Wellington. He was a toddler in our solarium. And he would stand by the window at the front of our condo and wave to the toddlers and babies who would appear in the windows of condo across the street," Burns said.

"I kind of thought, that would make a cool children's book to write about these kids because I hadn't seen anything like that done before."

Burns said her family then moved to a second condo in the city's west end, whereNathaniel and Benjamin made friends quickly.

"They became best friends with all the kids in the building and they had all of these great adventures. And I thought, you know what, I really need to get on that children's book because I think it's an idea that's just waiting to be explored. And I think there's a lot of kids out there who would like to see their lives reflected in a kids' book," she said.

Burns said there is a realsense of community in some Toronto condos and the book captures that reality.

"Maybe in Canada, there's this idea that once you have kids, you raise them in a house, or at least that's the dream, I guess, to have a back yard and to raise your kids in a family-friendly neighbourhood or in the suburbs," she said.

"That's sort of what I always thought I would do because that was the sort of the pressure I felt."

Condo living doesn't mean children are inactive, she said, but it does mean frequent trips to the park.

Her son, NathanielDurkacz,told Metro Morning that he thinks the book strikes a chord.

"I think it's kind of cool because I've never seen a book about kids in a condo and I think it's kind of cool to have one," he said.

Nathaniel said he likes living in a condo and he doesn't feel as though he's missing anything from not living in a house.

"I really like it. It's kind of nice because if you're bored, you can just walk down and knock on your friend's door and it's convenient," he said.