The Steps Across the Water

Ten-year-old Rose lives in New York, the city of bright lights and excitement, and a seemingly endless variety of people, architecture, and food—where extraordinary things happen every day on every block. But Rose wasn't born in New York; she was adopted as an infant from a far-away country. Though Rose loves her home and her adopted family, sometimes she can't help but feel different, like she's meant to be somewhere else.

Then one day in Central Park, Rose sees something truly extraordinary: a crystal staircase rising out of the lake, and two small figures climbing the shimmering steps before vanishing like a mirage. Only it's wasn't a mirage. Rose is being watched—recruited—by representatives of U Nork, a hidden city far more spectacular than its sister city New York. In U Nork, Dirigibles and zeppelins skirt dazzling skyscrapers that would dwarf the Crysler building. Impeccably dressed U Norkers glide along the sidewalks in roller skates. Rose can hardly take it all in.

Then she learns the most astonishing thing about U Nork. Its citizens are in danger, and they need Rose's help, and hers alone...

In a masterful new fantasy evocative of Alice in Wonderland, the brilliant novelist, essayist and critic, Adam Gopnik, explores the powerful themes of identity and the meaning of home, with stunning illustrations from Bruce McCall.

Publishers Weekly

Rose is adopted and suffers from a speech impediment (she reverses initial consonants), diagnosed as trauma from her years in a Russian orphanage. Strolling through Central Park, she sees a crystal staircase arising out of the turtle pond that leads to U Nork, a mirror city where the pigeons are large enough to ride and the skyscrapers take eight hours to ascend. Mixing in allusions to Alice in Wonderland, The Wizard of Oz, and The Snow Queen, Gopnik's narrative strains under the weight of his hyperbolic imagination. Still, this fantasy, rich in comic detail, is more accessible than his The King in the Window (2005), which featured the same family. Perhaps best suited to those familiar both with New York and the New Yorker, where Gopnik is a staff writer (one character is clearly modeled on Joseph Mitchell, the New Yorker writer who legendarily didn't produce a single story for 30 years), this will appeal to kids who already think Central Park is pretty magical. Final art not seen by PW. Ages 8 up. (Nov.)

ADAM GOPNIK grew up in Montreal. He is best known as a staff writer for the New Yorker, and as the author of Paris to the Moon, an account of five years he and his family spent in the French capital. He is also author of the children's book The King in the Window.

BRUCE MCCALL is a Canadian author and illustrator best known for his contributions to the New Yorker. He has also written sketches for Saturday Night Live. He lives in New York City. Visit him at brucemccall.com.

From the Hardcover edition.