""The Big Apple Posse: Escape From New York" is an action/adventure story for kids of all ages. It is only a children's story if "The Lord of the Flies" is only for children. "The Big Apple Posse" tells the story of four kids who were trapped in New York City after a terrorist attack. In the spirit of "The Wizard of Oz," they become a band of travelers (The Big Apple Posse) adding new friends as they attempt to flee the city and find their families. By pooling all of their different skills, they discover what happened to the city and escape. Twelve-year-old Amanda was dreading a boring afternoon at a Broadway theater, babysitting her ten-year-old brother Peter and watching her cousin Cindy perform the lead role in an Off-Broadway production of "Annie." After the show, as they wait to be picked up in Cindy’s basement dressing room, something unimaginable happens—the theater, and perhaps the entire city, explodes above them! Armed with a laptop and backpacks, the terrified but determined tweens manage to escape through an old door in the men's room and climb down a Prohibition-era stairway to the subway. When they emerge, they are stunned to find an empty city where the streets are choked with abandoned cars and plagued by looters running wild. They dodges thieves and thugs, making their way to Grand Central Station where they find an explosion of white powder. What really happened? Is it a terrorist attack? Determined to solve the mystery and reunite with their families, the tween posse quickly expands, adding characters they meet along their way: Mr. Garvain, a true New York eccentric; his sister Miss Virginia, proprietress of an extensive costume wardrobe; Thibodeaux, a twelve-year-old New Orleans boy turned New York City rapper and clothing designer; and Auntie Tina, Thibodeaux's guardian. Amid the nonstop thrill-ride, the now expanded posse learn to trust each other and stay together to save the city. "The Big Apple Posse," written by Wendy R. Williams and illustrated by Sophie Escabasse, is the first in a series of three books, "The Big Apple Posse Trilogy," which follow the posse in their journey from hapless victims to witnesses in the terror trial of the century. The second in the trilogy, "The Big Apple Posse: Escape From New Orleans," was published in December of 2011 and is for sale at Amazon.com. The third book, "The Big Apple Posse: Escape from Los Angeles" was published in August of 2012 and is also for sale at Amazon.com. "Solange's Song," the young adult sequel to the "Big Apple Posse" books, was published in January of 2014.