The Lonely Phone Booth. Peter Ackerman

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      First published in 2010 by

       DAVID R. GODINE · Publisher

       Post Office Box 450

       Jaffrey, New Hampshire 03452

       www.godine.com

      Story copyright © 2010 by Peter Ackerman

       Illustrations copyright © 2010 by Max Dalton

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced

       in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the

       publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts embodied in critical

       articles and reviews. For information contact Permissions,

       David R. Godine, Publisher, Fifteen Court Square, Suite 320,

       Boston, Massachusetts, 02108.

      LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA

      Ackerman, Peter.

       The lonely phonebooth / by Peter Ackerman ; illustrations by Max Dalton.

       – 1st ed.

       p. cm.

       Summary: When cellular telephones arrive on the scene, a once-popular

       Manhattan phonebooth becomes shabby and lonely until a power outage

       reminds everyone of how useful it can be.

       HARDCOVER ISBN 978-1-56792-414-5

       EBOOK ISBN 978-1-56792-505-0

       [1. Telephone booths–Fiction. 2. Loneliness–Fiction. 3. Cell phones–Fiction.

       4. New York (N.Y.)–Fiction.] I. Dalton, Max, ill. II. Title.

       PZ7.A18255LON 2010

       [E]–DC22

       2010009372

      For Clea, Stanley, and Alvin

       With special thanks to Peter Mendelsund

      Once there was a Phone Booth on West End Avenue

       and 100th Street in New York City.

      Everyone used it:

      a businessman

       always running late

       for meetings,

      a girl scout

       who needed

       more cookies,

      a construction foreman

       who needed cement,

      a zookeeper who

       lost his elephant,

      a cellist who left

       her cello in a taxicab,

      a ballerina who wanted

       to know if she got

       the part in Swan Lake,