Meet Little Amal: A puppet celebrating New York City’s roots

By MARK KENNEDY
AP Entertainment Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s latest celebrity visitor is stopping traffic even in this jaded, larger-than-life town. Little Amal, a 12-foot puppet of a 10-year-old Syrian refugee, is on a 17-day blitz through every corner of the Big Apple as part of a theater project hoping to raise awareness about immigration. She will visit tourists meccas — Times Square and Grand Central Station, among them — and also communities far from the glitz of Manhattan, like Bedford–Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. At each of the 55 stops planned stops, organizers have reached out to community artists and leaders to create a special event anchored by the place visited.