A girl (Girl A) lives with her parents in a brownstone(?) or apartment building across the street or adjacent from Central Park. She has a good life but would like a friend of similar age. Very early on in the book, a girl about her age moves into the building! Girl A makes friends with this girl, has many high spirited adventures in and around Central Park & NYC.
This book is titled something like “The World of Xanadu” or “Xenon” or “Xenia”, but “Xanadu” sounds most right to me. the X-word is the title of the imaginary world that the girls have made up. Early on, Girl A daydreams that she will find a friend her age and when she does, she says “We will make a fantasy realm called ‘Xanadu'”. This aspect feels like it has a “Bridge To Terabithia” element to it.
The setting is very close to “The One Hundredth Thing About Caroline” by Lois Lowry, but it isn’t that, because that book has more of a mystery/suspense nature to it.
Any help would be wonderful! Thank you!
Maybe this one?
Next door to Xanadu / Doris Orgel (1969) Harper & Row
A young girl’s wish for a special friend comes true when a new family moves in next door
Doris Orgel: Next Door to Xanadu
I came here looking for this very book! I remember the first girl was named Patricia Malone, and the friend was Dorothy Rappaport. Google isn’t helping me, even with the extra Xanadu clue you gave me.
Fantastic! Glad to know someone else also loved this book as much as I did!
!!!
Friends, you have helped me! This is it, “Next Door to Xanadu”, by Doris Orgel!
As a young girl, I read this book and imagined visiting NYC. Years later, as an adult, when I’m in NYC, this is what comes to mind, quite frequently.
Thank you for imparting your knowledge astutely and swiftly. I will be in NYC in two weeks, and I intend to re-read this now, having found it again with your help!
This is fanTASTIC – I have been trying to remember this childhood title for years!