Are you up for a trip to New York City? What about a dash of time travel? If you’re on board for all of that and willing to get wrapped up in a magical adventure, Emma Otheguy’s new middle grade fantasy novel, Adventure in the City of Stories, might just be the summer read you’ve been waiting for.
Adventure in the City of Stories follows three cousins, Camila, Jorge, and Siggy, as they unravel a decades-old family mystery that’s more magic than they could have ever expected. Following the cousins takes readers through New York City in time and space as they visit iconic locations between the 1930s and the present and introduces them to trailblazers like Latina librarian Pura Belpré.
All of this adventure is hardly just for fun. What starts as a mission to bring meaningful stories (in English and Spanish!) to the new girl at school turns into an all-in attempt to save their aunt’s reputation. The cousins tumble into the past after three puppets that Emma shared are inspired by Pura Belpré’s real puppets from the New York Public Library. “The puppets represent the characters from the Caribbean folktale ‘La cucaracha Martina,’ which my mom used to tell me as a kid–it was even the inspiration for my picture book Martina Has Too Many Tías,” she said. “Returning to this folktale and the associated historical artifacts felt natural, and I had so much fun giving them magic!”
While this book has all of the fun and mystery of a great story, Adventure in the City of Stories also brings readers face to face with literacy struggles that matter. When the book opens, Camila faces trouble and embarrasment because she tried to share books written in Spanish with her new classmate. “It’s no secret that kids’ access to books is increasingly restricted, especially books in many languages,” Emma said about these barriers. “When kids understand that the authority–whether that’s a school administrator or a state government–isn’t always correct, they can begin to assess literature on its own merits. Learning to ask questions like whose cause a book advances, whether it helps kids learn, or whether it is entertaining help all of us grow as readers.”
Reading Adventure in the City of Stories makes us want to decode the role our friends play in our own literacy journeys and who we are today. Emma shared that the cousins are a dynamic trio that balances each other out. “The cousins challenge one another in different ways,” she said. “Headlong, acrobatic Jorge pushes Camila to take more risks, while her more thoughtful nature helps keep him from getting in too much trouble. Siggy is their social butterfly: charismatic, gossip-loving, and occasionally bombastic, he pushes the other two to communicate and better understand the people around them.” These are characters you can find yourself in. Are you more Jorge, Camila, or Siggy?
Bridging gaps in time and understanding, Adventure in the City of Stories tangles together Emma’s larger body of work, too. “Adventure in the City of Stories ties together many of the themes I have been writing about for years–magic and history, family and immigration,” she explained. “One connection that was especially meaningful to me: my first book, Martí’s Song for Freedom, was about nineteenth-century Cuban poet and independence leader José Martí. One detail that didn’t make it into that book is that José Martí knew Arturo Schomburg, who founded what is today called the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In Adventure in the City of Stories, the cousins meet Arturo Schomburg in 1930, a visit that links the cultures of Cuba and Puerto Rico, the nineteenth century and the twentieth century, and my first book and my most recent book. It’s all about connections!”
These connections will hopefully bring readers as close to Emma as we feel after unpacking her stories with her. She has given her favorite stories and places to her audience, and she hopes they will “enjoy a fun adventure and also learn about the diverse peoples who told their stories in the city I love!”
Adventure in the City of Stories is in your favorite book store now.