Undertown

February 4, 2013
Adult author Bukiet (A Faker’s Dozen) makes the leap to children’s books with this off-kilter tale of two suburban youths who end up in the neverending, occasionally uncharted sewers of New York City. Timothy Murphy and Jessamyn Hazard barely knew each other back home in Montclair, N.J., until their parents started dating, but when a freak accident launches them and Timothy’s sailboat, the X-tra Large, into the sewers, they see an opportunity for excitement and adventure. As the two middle-schoolers elude the authorities, they encounter a talented graffiti artist, an identity-challenged homeless man, and a bizarre gang of subterranean thieves. It’s a coming-of-age escapade with a sense of wonder, and Bukiet pays homage to the history and mysteries of N.Y.C. with a writing style that’s part sentimental, part poetic, and part tongue-in-cheek. Throughout, Bukiet’s language and phrasings show a respect for and confidence in his audience, and if some of Timothy and Jessamyn’s conversations and observations come across as overly mature, they make for memorably entertaining protagonists, lost in a not-so-
impossible world. Ages 10–14. Agent: Jennifer Lyons, Jennifer Lyons Literary Agency.

January 1, 2013
Two suburban teens ride a sailboat into Manhattan's storm drains and meet quirky residents aplenty in this wittier-than-thou crossover effort. Suddenly and uncomfortably thrown into one another's company by their widowed parents' romance, Timothy and Jessamyn express their displeasure with a prank. It backfires, sending them rolling down a Washington Heights street aboard the inaccurately named X-tra Large into a hole opened at a construction site. Disturbed but willing to go with the flow (so to speak), the two contrive to elude a massive police search, escape the clutches of the ruthless queen of a gang of subterranean art thieves and ultimately (by converting a stolen Turner canvas into a sail) survive the disastrous effects of a rainstorm. Unsurprisingly, they also bond. Bukiet chucks in such New York types as a stunningly gifted young graffiti artist and a seen-it-all police captain, along with the obligatory mentions of alligators, egg creams and dog-sized rats. He also pauses frequently for touristic disquisitions on Manhattan's topography and the sights beneath which his protagonists are passing. Mannered references to, for instance, the flood's "chthonic fury" ("A million drops are more than the sum of their splatters. They are voluptuous and deadly") and analytical remarks on such topics as the craft of writing or art and money as social constructs will play better to older audiences. Though classically modeled, this journey tale founders. (Fantasy. 11-13)

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June 1, 2013

Gr 5-8-Timothy Murphy still hasn't recovered from his mother's death when his dad announces that they will be spending the day with his new girlfriend and her daughter, Jessamyn Hazard, who attends the same school as Timothy. He is not looking forward to a day of sailing and having to share his father's attention. When his dad and Miranda make a stop for egg creams, the middle schoolers decide to play a prank on their parents and unhook the boat trailer from the car, thinking the worst that would happen would be that their parents would pull away without them. Instead the trailer and boat take off down a hill and the two kids go careening across Manhattan and end up falling into a gaping construction hole. Timothy and Jessamyn find themselves floating on the sailboat in the city's storm sewer. They decide to evade the rescue team as long as they can, leading to trouble as they meet the cast of characters that dwell in "Undertown." Not knowing whom to trust, they learn to think on their feet in order to escape Undertown's evil ruler. The action goes back and forth between what is going on aboveground, where the adults are in rescue mode, and belowground. While the story starts out as a great adventure, the action underground may be predictable for older readers. However, the suspense is enough to hold the interest of younger ones, who will wonder if Timothy and Jessamyn will be captured and enslaved or rescued.-Karen Alexander, Lake Fenton High School, Linden, MI

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2013
Grades 6-8 This classic hero's journey is set against the detailed backdrop of New York City, both above ground and below. Timothy and Jessamyn are reluctantly thrown together on a sailing trip with their romantically involved single parents. Alarmed at the thought that the other's parent might replace the missing one in their lives, the young teens concoct a plan to get back at the adults. But when they instead end up sliding beneath Manhattan into the vast New York sewer system, Timothy and Jessamyn must hang on for the ride of their lives. Navigating their small boatcalled, naturally, the X-tra Largethey encounter giant rats, eccentric underground dwellers (such as a graffiti artist named DUO and the deceptively small yet dangerous Malomi), and their own fears. Bukiet's first children's outing veers between language carefully designed to appeal to its intended audience and occasionally sophisticated sentence structure and subjects that should instead engage far older readers. Dramatic and imaginative, this will probably most appeal to readers with a taste for the esoteric.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2013
An improbable accident drops Timothy and Jessamyn's sailboat into the storm sewers underneath New York City. The two middle schoolers enjoy their impromptu adventure until they encounter a dangerous criminal enterprise. Though creative and adventurous, the story is interrupted by short, unnecessary history lessons about different areas of the city, and unexplained nautical terms are used frequently.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)