Walls within Walls (23 page)

O
N
P
UZZLES AND
J
UMBLES:

Coughlin, Dr. Heather. “Crack the Code!”

www.csustan.edu/math/Coughlin/SMC06.pdf

 

Stevenson, Robert Louis.
Treasure Island.
London: Cassell, 1883.

T
HE
P
OST
F
AMILY:

Lane, Jim. “Marjorie Merriweather Post.”

www.humanitiesweb.org/human.php?s=r&p=a&a=i&ID=868

 

Lisenbee, Kenneth. “Marjorie Merriweather Post: A Biography.”

www.paulbowles.org/marjoriemerriweatherpost.html

 

Fisher, Frederick, et al.
Marjorie Merriweather Post's Art Collector's Personal Museum
. Washington, DC: Hillwood Museum and Gardens, 2000.

 

“A World Unique and Magnificent: Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post, Head of a Great U.S. Fortune.” Photos by Alfred Eisenstaedt. New York: Time Inc.:
Life
magazine, Vol. 59, No. 19, November 5, 1965.

 

Alpern, Andrew.
New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments: With Original Floor Plans from the Dakota, River House, Olympic Tower and Other Great Buildings
. Mineola, NY: Dover, 1987.

 

New York Public Library.

www.nypl.org

 

Bellis, Mary. “The History of Scotch Tape.” http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/Scotch_Tape.htm

 

The Morgan Library.

www.themorgan.org

T
HE
P
OEMS:

Hughes, Langston (1902–1967). “The Weary Blues.”
The Collected Poems of Langston Hughes
. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1995.

 

Tennyson, Lord Alfred (1809–1892). “Ulysses.”
Poems
. London: Edward Moxon, 1842.

 

Hardy, Thomas (1840–1928). “Faint Heart in a Rail Way Train.”
The Complete Works of Thomas Hardy
. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1995.

 

Millay, Edna St. Vincent (1892–1950). “Recuerdo.”
The Poet and Her Book: A Biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay
. Jean Gould. New York: Dodd Mead, 1969.

 

Lazarus, Emma (1849–1887).
The New Colossus
. First published 1883 and engraved on Statue of Liberty plaque in 1903.

 

Wylie, Elinor (1885–1928). “A Crowded Trolley.”
Nets to Catch the Wind
. New York: Harcourt Brace, 1921.

 

Bradford, Phillips Verner, and Harvey Blume.
Ota Benga: The Pygmy in the Zoo.
New York: St. Martin's Press, 1992.

 

The Seven Structures:

Ryokan (1758–1831). Here is the story of this haiku.

Ryokan and the Thief

Ryokan, a Zen master, lived the simplest kind of life in a little hut at the foot of a mountain. One evening a thief visited the hut, only to discover there was nothing to steal.

Ryokan returned and caught him. “You have come a long way to visit me,” he told the prowler, “and you should not return empty-handed. Please take my clothes as a gift.” The thief was bewildered. He took the clothes and slunk away.

 

Ryoken sat naked, watching the moon. “Poor fellow,” he mused, “I wish I could have given him this beautiful moon.”

www.poetry-chaikhana.com/R/Ryokan/thiefleftitb.htm

 

Bowen, A. P. “I Love Corned Beef.”
The Stars and Stripes.
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, The Knickerbocker Press, 1919.

 

Kingsley, Charles (1819–1875). “A Farewell.”
A Victorian Anthology,
1837–1895
. Edmund Clarence Stedman. Cambridge, MA: Riverside Press, 1895.

 

Sandburg, Carl (1878–1967). “Arithmetic.”

 

de la Mare, Walter (1873–1956). “The Cupbouard.”
Peacock Pie: A Book of Rhymes
. Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2004.

 

Davis, Fannie Stearns (1884–1966). “For a Child.”

 

Himiak, Lauren. “General Grant National Memorial (Grant's Tomb).” http://usparks.about.com/od/nationalmemorials/p/General-Grant-Memorial.htm

 

Lewis, David Levering.
When Harlem Was in Vogue
. New York: Penguin, 1979.

 

Jackson, Kenneth T.
The Encyclopedia of New York City
. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1995.

 

Collins, George, et al.
Guastavino Co. (1885–1962) Catalogue of Works in Catalonia and America
. Actar/Col.legi D'Arquitectes de Catalunya; Illustrated Edition, 2003.

 

Guastavino IV, Rafael.
An Architect and His Son: The Immigrant Journey of Rafael Guastavino II and Rafael Guastavino III
. Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2009.

 

Parrish, Michael E.
Anxious Decades: America in Prosperity and Depression, 1920–1941
(Norton Twentieth Century America series). Actar/Col.legi D'Arquitectes de Catalunya; Illustrated Edition, 2003.

 

Stravitz, David.
New York, Empire City: 1920–1945
. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004.

 

Elliott, Debbie. “Wondering About Water Towers.” NPR Radio, United States. 2 Dec. 2006. www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6567297

T
O
F
IND
M
ORE
O
N:

City Hall Subway Station

www.transitmuseumeducation.org/trc/background

or

www.nycsubway.org/perl/stations?5:979

 

The Lindbergh Kidnapping

www.fbi.gov/libref/historic/famcases/lindber/lindbernew.htm

 

Johnny Torrio

www.knowledgerush.com/kr/encyclopedia/Johnny_Torrio

 

Marie Antoinette

www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/biography/marieantoinette.html

 

The Kissing Post

www.history.com/content/ellis-island/ellis-island-tour/kissing-post

 

The Schomburg Center

www.ny.com/museums/schomburg.center.for.research.in.black.culture.html

Grand Central Terminal

http://grandcentralterminal.com/info/walkingtour.cfm

or

www.guidespot.com/guides/next_stop_grand_central

On a rainy night in April 2010, Brid Smithfork lay in bed moving only her fingers. Flashes of lightning followed by thunderous booms did nothing to move her when she was so deep in thought. Wind whipped her curtains inward because she had left her windows open. Yet the only thing she noticed was the object she held in her hands, a sumptuous wooden box with carved symbols on the border. The border design of the box was the same as the border design on the cover of this book. If you turn back to the front cover, you will see it.

Eloise and Julian left New York City to travel the world after the mystery was solved. Before they left, they gave each of the Smithfork kids a gift. Brid was given the beautiful wooden box. Each night, as if in prayer, Brid had stared at the symbols and letters, waiting for them
to mean something to her. It was CJ who realized the left-hand column was a simple backward skip-three code. When he stuck to the letters, ignoring the symbols just on that left column, he got a message that was the title of one of the poems in Mr. Post's book. Can you figure out which poem it refers to?

The other three sides of the four-sided border were the puzzle that kept Brid awake. But on that night, just as thunder seemed to shake her room apart, she finally figured it out.

Beginning at the top of the border and reading left to right, she let each circled number relate to the stanza of the poem. The number that came after that related to a word on that stanza line. So the circled number 12 meant the twelfth line of the poem; the 3, the third word in that line. And that first word was
refuse
. She continued in a clockwise order to pull the lines from the poem to get the message, a message that would make her stay up all night, shaking with excitement.

She didn't know it at the time, but that message would launch her, CJ, and Patrick into a far more dangerous mission than the one they have just completed. They have an ancient door to break down, a door that is heavily guarded. There will be a lamp they have to free, a priceless lamp capable of mystical powers. And somehow along with this future mission, they still have to go to school.

There were many collaborators and cheerleaders for this book but none as enthusiastic as my editor, Katherine Tegen. She has an ear for a good tale, an eye for architecture, and a mind open enough to hear a wacky idea through. To her the biggest thank-you.

To my mother, Kathleen Sherry, whose years as a Harlem public school teacher left her duly qualified to pinpoint what works and doesn't work for this age group. Her husband, Hugh Boylan, was tireless in his encouragement, as were Bill Klinsky and Toby Shapiro.

To my enthusiastic girls of summer who often found themselves with one or more of my own children at any given stage of this process: Nancy Hebert, Adele Malpass, Aripcy Salazar, Elizabeth Dennis, Melissa Fleming, Meng Khu Gurung, Brenda Earl, Amy Goodfriend, Katie
Shah, and, of course, Carron Sherry.

To Mr. Demeny's fifth-grade field trips, packed with information about New York, and my children's friends, who never seemed to mind me eavesdropping on the banter. You all gave me so much material. Specific thanks to the Cassidy, Hogan, Hebert, Shah, and Koepke kids, the second-grade Narnia boys, and fifth-grade tennis girls. I could listen to you talk among yourselves forever.

For artistic ideas and direction I'd like to thank Eric Clough and 212Box, Heather Bensko, Amy Ryan, Matt Klam, Sarah Salovaara, Hollie Chantiles, Roxann Couloucoundis, the Hillwood Museum, and the Smithfork Ranch.

To Laura Mandarano, in a class by herself.

And last, my greatest thanks goes to the people who inspire me the most: Cavan, Kiera, Owen, and Ella, the real Smithforks.

 

B EHOX RHN YTLMXK

Jacket art © 2010 by Adam Stower

Jacket design by Joel Tippie