The Big Apple is an amazing place, and it isn't hard to believe that along with the incredible architecture, wonderful museums and libraries, the people and food from all over the world, the parks, and the planetarium there might also be portals to enchanted realms, and strange beings living side by side with us. Here are books in which people can borrow magical items from a special lending library (seven league boots, magic mirrors, and more), or ride dinosaurs while fighting for the Union in the Civil war, along with many other marvelous stories! 

Dactyl Hill Squad by Daniel José Older

It is the summer of 1863, and as the Civil War rages between dinosaur-mounted armies down south, and a tense New York City seems on the brink of exploding into riots. Magdalys Roca and the other children at the Colored Orphan Asylum are trying to survive. When she receives a letter telling her that her brother Montez was wounded, Magdalys knows that somehow she must reach him--and just possibly her ability to communicate telepathically with dinosaurs may come in handy.

 

 

 

Dead City by James Ponti

Most kids have enough to deal with between school, homework, extracurricular activities, and friends, but Molly Bigelow has something else on her list: hunting zombies. By day, Molly attends MIST the Metropolitan Institute of Science and Technology; but outside the classroom she's busy dealing with the undead. Because, not only do zombies exist, they're everywhere, and it's her job to help police them and keep the peace. Sure, she'd like to be a regular kid, but given that her mother was the most revered (or feared, depending on your perspective) zombie hunter in the history of New York City, regular just isn't possible. Molly's got some legendary footsteps to follow, and some undeadly consequences if she fails.

 

 

The Flame of Olympus by Kate O'Hearn

A first entry in a trilogy follows the story of young Emily, who discovers that mythological beings are real when Pegasus crashes onto a Manhattan roof during a terrible storm and draws Emily into a fierce battle between the Roman gods and a terrifying stone warrior race.

 

 

 

 

 

Gods of Manhattan by Scott Mebus 

Although the obvious can be seen by the naked eye, twelve-year-old Rory Hennessey has a unique gift that lets him see the darker realms of the city--areas where the Gods of Manhattan rule the streets with their warrior cockroaches, kung fu rodents, and hungry gargoyles that are determined to cause chaos in the city he loves

 

 

 

 

 

The Grimm Legacy by Polly Shulman

New York high school student Elizabeth gets an after-school job as a page at the "New-York Circulating Material Repository," and when she gains coveted access to its Grimm Collection of magical objects, she and the other pages are drawn into a series of frightening adventures involving mythical creatures and stolen goods.

 

 

 

 

Inquisitor's Apprentice by Chris Moriarty

In early twentieth-century New York, Sacha Kessler's ability to see witches earns him an apprenticeship to the police department's star Inquisitor, Maximillian Wolf, to help stop magical crime and, with fellow apprentice Lily Astral, Sacha investigates who is trying to kill Thomas Edison, whose mechanical witch detector that could unleash the worst witch-hunt in American history.

 

 

 

 

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

After learning that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea, Percy Jackson is transferred from boarding school to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods, and becomes involved in a quest to prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

 

 

 

 

Magic in the Park by Ruth Chew

Missing the woods and fields of her former home after moving to Brooklyn, Jen befriends Mike during a visit to Prospect Park and observes a mysterious older gentleman who seems to appear and disappear randomly, a phenomenon that reveals the excitement and danger of magic. 

 

 

 

 

The Magic Mirror of the Mermaid Queen by Delia Sherman 

Neef, the official Changeling of Central Park, has survived a life-threatening quest, but that’s nothing compared to her first experiences at Changeling school. At Miss Van Loon’s, she meets her counterparts from all over Manhattan, learns the basics of diplomacy, and, of course, gets in trouble. This time Neef must recover the Magic Mirror, or else New York Harbor’s Mermaid Queen will turn all of the city’s fresh water to salt and everything will die.

 

 

 

 

The Schwa was Here by Neal Shusterman

A Brooklyn eighth-grader nicknamed Antsy befriends the Schwa, an "invisible-ish" boy who is tired of blending into his surroundings and going unnoticed by nearly everyone.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So You Want to Be a Wizard by Diane Duane

Something stopped Nita's hand as it ran along the bookshelf. She looked and found that one of the books had a loose thread at the top of its spine. It was one of those So You Want to Be a . . . books, a series on careers. So You Want to Be a Pilot, and a Scientist . . . a Writer. But his one said, So You Want to Be a Wizard. I don't belive this, Nina thought. She shut the book and stood there holding it in her hand, confused, amazed, suspicious—and delighted. If it was a joke, it was a great one. If it wasn't . . . ?

 

 

 

York: Shadow Cipher by Laura Ruby

It was 1798 when the Morningstarr twins arrived in New York with a vision for a magnificent city: towering skyscrapers, dazzling machines, and winding train lines, all running on technology no one had ever seen before. Fifty-seven years later, the enigmatic architects disappeared, leaving behind for the people of New York the Old York Cipher -- a puzzle laid into the shining city they constructed, at the end of which was promised a treasure beyond all imagining. By the present day, however, the puzzle has never been solved. Tess and Theo Biedermann and their friend Jaime Cruz live in a Morningstarr apartment house -- until a real estate developer announces that the city has agreed to sell him the five remaining Morningstarr buildings. Their destruction means the end of a dream long-held by the people of New York. 

 

Walls Within Walls by Maureen Sherry 

After their father strikes it rich, the Smithfork kids find they hate their new life. They move from their cozy Brooklyn neighborhood to a swanky apartment on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. They have no friends, a nanny who takes the place of their parents, and a school year looming ahead that promises to be miserable. And then, one day, Brid, CJ, and Patrick discover an astonishing secret about their apartment: The original owner, the deceased multimillionaire Mr. Post, long ago turned the apartment itself into a giant puzzle containing a mysterious book and hidden panels; a puzzle that, with some luck, courage, and brainpower, will lead to discovering the Post family fortune.

 

 

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

As her mother prepares to be a contestant on the 1980s television game show, "The $20,000 Pyramid," a twelve-year-old New York City girl tries to make sense of a series of mysterious notes received from an anonymous source that seems to defy the laws of time and space.

 

 

 

 

 

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