City of Magic
Knopf, 1982
out of print;
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What’s this book about?
Too many questions …
It wasn’t that thirteen-year-old Conrad didn’t like living with his aunt and uncle in St. Louis. It’s just that his mother and father both lived in New York and he hadn’t seen them lately. And he had a few questions he needed to have answered. That’s how Conrad happened to spend the strangest week of his life in New York City with a girl he hardly knew—and getting more answers than he had questions … about his parents, himself, and what real families are all about.
Story Behind the Story
My eldest son had a classmate, a good friend. We’ll call him Toby. A likable, polite, full-of-fun kid, Toby was around our house often. I didn’t know much about him, save one thing: he lived with his grandparents, not his parents. I believe it was my son who told me that. It was nothing I pursued, but at school occasions I had the opportunity to meet these nice grandparents, where we exchanged pleasantries about our two boys.
One day, as spring break approached, my son was making preparations for a week of Boy Scout camping. Toby was at our house. “Toby,” I asked. “Have plans for spring break?”
He said, “I wanted to go visit my parents, but my grandparents said I couldn’t. So I’m just staying home.”
That gave me pause. I decided I needed to know a little more.
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