June 3, 2024
As the only child of the superintendent, Roya Alborzi doubts that anyone knows more about the residents and history of their Brooklyn apartment complex on Ocean Parkway than she does. The intrepid 11-year-old, an aspiring investigative journalist, helps her mother maintain the building and hones her observational acumen by reporting the daily goings-on for the 47 (mostly Danish) subscribers of her secret podcast, The Queen of Ocean Parkway, while avoiding the subject of her science teacher father’s colon cancer. After overhearing tenants Stefanie Turner and her wife Katya Petrov discussing Katya’s family curse and the fortune tied to it, Roya is intrigued—and then alarmed when Katya vanishes 24 hours later. Stefanie explains that Katya’s great-grandfather built a Coney Island fortune-telling attraction called Grandmother’s Predictions that is linked to decades of mysterious Petrov disappearances. With the help of shy and studious new tenant Amin Lahiri, Roya vows to find Katya and uncover the truth behind the Petrov family curse. Dusted with speculative elements, this cozy and surprising mystery by Tash (A Whole Song and Dance) features appealing and perceptively drawn characters coping with genuinely wrought emotions in a vivid setting. The cast is intersectionally diverse. Ages 8–12. Agent: Molly Ker Hawn, Bent Agency.