The children's gate is an entrance to Central Park that leads to the playground. Gopnik explores that entrance in metaphor and experience as he recounts his family's return from Paris to New York—a seemingly secure, almost oddly child-friendly New York—in the fall of 2000. Gopnik describes not a city but an extended urban family, and a home charmed by the civilization of childhood. It's a charm that is simultaneously protect from, challenged by, and even shaped around the event that is soon to follow.By turns elegant and exultant, jubilant and poignant, THROUGH THE CHILDREN'S GATE is a loving portrait of a family and their city.

ADAM GOPNIK is known for his witty, charming interpretations of modern life. His bestseller Paris to the Moon chronicles his family's experience as Americans living in France. A writer for The New Yorker, he is a three-time winner of the National Magazine Award for Essays and for Criticism and the George Polk Award for Magazine Reporting. He currently lives in New York with his wife and two children.