The Steps Across the Water
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
In a masterful new fantasy evocative of Alice in Wonderland, New York Times bestselling author Adam Gopnik explores the powerful themes of identity and the meaning of home, with stunning illustrations from renowned New Yorker artist Bruce McCall.
Ten-year-old Rose lives in New York, the city of bright lights and excitement, 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. Rose loves her home and her family, but sometimes she can't help but feel like she doesn't belong. Then one day in Central Park, Rose sees something extraordinary: a crystal staircase rises out of the lake, and two small figures climb the shimmering steps before vanishing like a mirage. Only it's not a mirage. Rose is being watched - recruited - by representatives of U Nork, a hidden city where Dirigibles and Zeppelins skirt dazzling skyscrapers that would dwarf the Chrysler building. Impeccably dressed U Norkers glide along the sidewalks on 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…
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.
