THE QUEEN OF OCEAN PARKWAY

Sometimes, time travel is necessary.

Eleven-year-olds Roya Alborzi and Amin Lahiri live in 2024 but also, briefly, in 1949, 1974, and 1999. Iranian American Roya’s mom is the superintendent of their 100-year-old apartment building, which is dubbed the Queen of Ocean Parkway; Amin’s family are new residents. Roya helps her mom and observes the tenants, writing about them for her podcast. One day, she overhears married couple Stefanie (who’s cued Black) and Katya (who’s Russian American) speaking about a cursed fortune—and soon after, Katya is gone. Stefanie explains to Roya and Amin, who’s of South Asian descent, that at 25-year intervals, members of Katya’s family, the Petrovs, have received fortunes but also disappeared after visiting the family’s fortunetelling machine at Coney Island. And there begins an amazing adventure. Using the original fortune to guide them, the intrepid duo finds Grandmother’s Predictions, the waxwork machine, which tells them they have one chance to save Katya. Grandmother also sends them time traveling into the past, where they meet other vanished Petrov women. Roya also hopes that she can make a change in the past that would save her father from dying. Although the plot contains sometimes-confusing twists, turns, magic, coincidences, and unforeseen consequences, the resolution is entirely original, and the characters are distinct individuals whose worries, quirks, and foibles will engage readers’ sympathies. The sights, sounds, and atmosphere of Brooklyn are integral to the proceedings and enhanced by Lugo’s illustrations.

Suspend disbelief and enjoy this adventure.