Undertown

Melvin Jules Bukiet

Mas 2013 · Abrams

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In this fast-paced adventure story, Timothy and Jessamyn are towed through the streets of Manhattan riding in Timothy’s family’s sailboat, on their way to the Long Island shore, when the boat comes unhitched from its truck. The teens “sail” backward down a hill in Upper Manhattan, then fall down a huge construction site hole and into the vast sewer system below.
Thrust into an amazing adventure, the kids navigate waterfalls and rapids as they travel through the rain sewers. They meet a graffiti artist their own age, a homeless person named You, and rats the size of large dogs. They fall into the hands of a gangster who claims the sewers as her kingdom and the homeless as her subjects, and acts as a fence for luxury goods! Will she feed Timothy and Jessamyn to the rats?

UPraise for Undertown/u
"Two suburban teens ride a sailboat into Manhattan’s storm drains and meet quirky residents aplenty."
—Kirkus Reviews

"It’s a coming-of-age escapade with a sense of wonder, and Bukiet pays homage to the history and mysteries of NYC with a writing style that’s part sentimental, part poetic, and part tongue-in-cheek.”
—Publishers Weekly

"This classic hero’s journey is set against the detailed backdrop of New York City, both above ground and below."
—Booklist
 

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Melvin Jules Bukiet, on the faculty at Sarah Lawrence College, is the author of numerous adult books. His stories and essays have been published in the Paris Review, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, Antaeus, and more. This is his first book for children. He lives in New York City.