Scratch ‘N Sniff Book on New York, Concrete Jungle Where Smells are Everywhere Is Coming Soon

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An upcoming children’s book will have scratch-and-sniff pages featuring New York’s signature smells. NewsFeed hopes it doesn’t have a page that smells like subway goers’ body odor.

In an interesting turn of events for children’s literature, first-time author Amber Jones will publish a scratch-and-sniff illustrated guide to New York. The hotel concierge decided to take a foray into the written word after a life-altering experience with the scent of horse excrement.

“I work in Times Square and one day while I was walking to the train I got a delicious whiff of pizza,” said Jones. “As I was looking in the window at the pizza, deciding if I should buy a slice, I didn’t realize I was stepping in horse manure. I went to the corner to make sure I didn’t get any on my shoe and was engulfed by shish kebab smoke from a food cart. It’s then I thought ‘there should be a scratch-and-sniff guide of New York.’ Viola! The idea was born.”

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The book, titled New York, PHEW York, will showcase smells that run the gamut of New York’s olfactory offerings. Featured scents include the good (strawberry, pizza, hot dogs, churros), the bad (garbage, sewer steam, horse manure) and the random (red apple, smoke, grass, pickles).

Initially, Jones had trouble finding a book deal for her project, which chronicles a visiting family’s adventures around the city in rhyming couplets.

“Cost was always their primary concern. I was told I should have fewer smells or to have only the ‘good’ smells,” she said. But “that’s just not an honest book about New York. As much as we wish this city only smelled like cinnamon and cocoa…it doesn’t.”

Jones, who will self-publish the story, has plans for a series of scratch-and sniff city adventures after New York, PHEW York hits shelves in November. Anyone want to guess what Los Angeles smog will smell like?

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