The Big Apple

The last place ten-year-old Harry and older brother Randy want to be is stuck in New Jersey with their kooky Grandma DeLuca and her wonder dog, Mr. Muggles. But when she wakes them for a break of dawn train ride into New York City to watch her favorite singer, Neil Floggins, in concert on the Today show, things go downhill fast.

And that’s all before they get lost in Queens and run into Joey P and the Red Skulls. When Muggles disappears and Grandma is abducted, the often-battling brothers have no choice but to work together to get them back. To do so they’ll have to fend off thieves, navigate the subways, and survive a chase through Central Park before time runs out.

The Big Apple is the third Brother Wars adventure — and the biggest one yet. The brothers leave the suburbs behind and head straight into the city for the trilogy’s wildest, funniest book.

After two books of suburban and summer-camp chaos, I knew Harry and Randy needed a bigger stage. New York City — with its subways, crowds, and a Grandma who insists on showing them every block of it — was the obvious answer.

This is the brothers at their best: still driving each other crazy, but finally, finally, on the same side when it counts.