The population of New York City is 7 million--that is, absent the horde of literary characters who hover in odd corners of museums, frolic in the parks, stroll ordinary streets and make the city a warm and friendly place for a well-read youngster. "Seeing real places that are associated with books makes stories come alive," says Judy Zuckerman, a children's-books specialist at the New York Public Library, "and visiting something kids have read about adds a personal dimension to a trip."
Virtually any place a family might go in New York has literary associations. Young readers will recall that the long...