Stepping out with your ‘City Kid’

For more than four years, Alison Lowenstein's “City Baby Brooklyn” has been a best-selling and much loved companion for moms and dads who call Brooklyn home.

Now Universe presents the first edition of “City Kid New York: The Ultimate Guide for NYC Parents with Kids Ages 4-12,” which contains all the information you need once your City Kid has outgrown the pacifier and is ready for kindergarten, sleepovers and day camp.

Many parents are, as Lowenstein writes in her introduction, “finding new ways and resources to provide their kids with stimulating and memorable childhoods in the big city.” Whether you call one of the boroughs home, or you are just visiting for the weekend, “City Kid New York” will prove to be an indispensable guide filled with information such as what age your City Kid has to start paying for subway rides, the best after-school activities and camps, and the best kid-tested museums and festivals.

City Kid New York also features informative sidebars about annual events, guidelines and prep programs for schools, and an entire chapter devoted to resources including all the New York family-themed blogs and Web sites, to help City Parents keep up-to-date on the latest happenings and information in New York City.

Lowenstein is the author of “City Weekends: The Greatest Escapes and Getaways In and Around New York City” (2009) and “City Baby Brooklyn: The Ultimate Guide for Parents from Pregnancy Through Preschool” (2005). She also runs the Brooklyn-based parenting Web site www.brooklynbaby.com.

The author will be featured at two special events marking the release of the book. On March 25 at 7 p.m. there will be a book launch party and Q&A at Book Court (www.bookcourt.org). Have some cake (with a cake topper provided by You Cake), enjoy some wine, and enter a raffle for a chance to win many kid-friendly items such as passes for a family of four to the Intrepid, tickets to a New Victory play and a production at the Literally Alive Theater. There will also be other giveaways and goodies. Book Court is at 163 Court Street (between Pacific and Dean streets); call 718-875-3677.

On March 27, 3-5 p.m., there is a City Kid book event at Annie’s Blue Ribbon General Store. Relax with milk and cookies made by local food blogger Jennifer Perillo. Kids can color in NYC themed coloring sheets as you pick her brain on the best places to go with kids in NYC. Blue Ribbon is at 365 State Street, at the corner of Bond; call 718-522-9848.