The Boy Mayor of New York

I searched everywhere for facts on how the knish war of 1916 ended, but I found no answer. But a picture book needs an ending...enter the Mayor. Yes, I invented the ending but had the real mayor stepped in, he would have been the none other than John Purroy Mitchel who was the 95th mayor of New York from 1914-1917. He was only 34, the second youngest to be elected mayor of New York City. Mitchel was often referred to as the Boy Mayor of New York. He lost his bid to serve a second term and joined the Army aviation corps, but never got to fly in the legendary air battles of World War I. New Yorkers were shocked to learn that during a training flight in Louisiana, Mayor Mitchel, failed to buckle his seat belt and was killed instantly when he fell from his plane. (You can't make up stories like that, can you?)

Jon Davis did a wonderful job of capturing the young mayor's likeness, even his high hat and youthful ( if fictional) enthusiasm for knishes in the The Knish War on Rivington Street. It's his honor, the mayor who is the great decider.