but it’s my mother
flesh and blood.
I burst into tears
and then I am running, running and
shouting down the street, shouting
with my entire body and spirit.
My mother and the men turn toward me.
I see nothing but
my mother’s stunned beautiful face
as I fly toward her
then
I am in her arms and
we are weeping together
holding each other
rocking back and forth.
She is shorter and smaller
than I remember
but her arms are familiar and strong
and I dissolve into them
and then another set of arms
encircles and embraces us both
and I hear my father’s voice
laughing and crying
repeating my name
over and over.
They are here.
They are alive.
They have come for me.
They have come.
After-Words
their voices
their questions
the touch of their hands
everyone’s waiting
they say
everyone’s fine
the imminent threat?
it never existed
a massive land grab
unprecedented fraud
elections
new government
conditions returning to normal
I can’t care
not yet
so many answers
too many questions
there is only this
the touch of their hands
skin on warm skin
family skin
our skin
own skin
to be held
to be seen
to be heard
to be known
these are the nutrients
missing
from my diet
of the last three years
mal-love-nourished
forgot totally what it means
to be heart-quenched
soul-satiated
now it fills me
feeds me
holds me
stills me
with George tucked
beneath my feet
and my mother
and my father
each holding
my hands
we fly
up and over
the only home I ever had
the home I forced
to feed and shelter me
up and over
the charred neighborhood
the lake
the park
the town and all its buildings
the houses
the schools
the ruins from flood and storm
down below
my ghost self haunts
a maze of streets
always searching
always hunting
sometimes hoping
always wishing
now there is only this
they have come for me
come back for me
back to this home
this home that tried to kill me
tried to keep me alive
they are here
I am here
simultaneous impossibilities
like everything
like nothing
like love
Acknowledgments
When I was eleven, I visited New York City. I wanted to be a writer and I knew that New York was where many books were published, so I went door-to-door at several of the big publishing houses on Sixth Avenue and introduced myself. I didn’t have appointments, but the editors invited me into their offices and talked with me. I left with a stack of business cards and an invitation to send them my stories. That day, I learned that people who publish books are very kind.
I am now much older than eleven, but the people who publish (and write and illustrate and edit and design and sell) books are still very kind, and I am lucky to have met and worked with many of them to make this one. I am so grateful for the keen insights of Kristin Gilson and Anna Parsons at Aladdin, and for the entire team at Simon & Schuster, especially Valerie Garfield, Heather Palisi, Chelsea Morgan, Mike Rosamilia, Brian Luster, Valerie Shea, Emily Hutton, Michelle Leo, and Mara Anastas. Merci beaucoup à Pascal Campion.
Enormous thanks to Deborah Warren for championing the manuscript from the moment it entered her inbox, and to Matt Ringler for his encouragement and support in helping it find its way to Deborah. Thanks to Erin Dealey and all the writers and illustrators who support each other so generously at East West Literary.
Ideas for stories can take a long time to grow into books, and I am grateful to the people who nurtured and encouraged this one. Thanks to the Mother-Daughter Book Club where the seed was first planted: Leah, Nina, Susan, Olivia, Liz, Alyssa, and Fiona. Thanks to the people who read the manuscript in various iterations and offered feedback: Emma Buhman-Wiggs, Lillian Norton-Brainerd, Heather Preusser, Kristie Letter, Shelby Pawlina, Ginny Downey, Sarah Azibo, Beckie Garrett, Jen Dauzvardis, Alan Freeman, Kathie Freeman, Kim Tomsic, and Leah Rogers. Thanks to Trevor Norton, Garnie Kelly, Mark Ziegler, and Katie Covey for providing technical insights.
I am deeply grateful to principal Melissa Christensen, teacher Dana Reyes, and the discerning students at Peak to Peak Charter School for workshopping the manuscript with me, and to the many other people who encouraged and celebrated each milestone, especially Fiona Freeman-Grundei, Nicole Hewitt, Catherine Hagney Brown, Leah Stecher, Mariamne Friedman, M. D. Friedman, Kelly Reeser, Kristianna Vedvik, Jennifer McKeown, Tiné DelaTorre, and my Texas and California families. And despite the enthusiasm of all these people, this story would not have become a book without the abundant resources of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and I appreciate the Rocky Mountain Chapter more than words can express.
A special thanks to Marti Rolph Rhode for walking up and down Sixth Avenue with me all those years ago. All children need adults who take their aspirations seriously.
And most importantly, to my husband, Rob. Thank you for all you do to make my writing life possible. I adore you.
About the Author
MEGAN E. FREEMAN attended an elementary school where poets came into the classrooms every week to teach poetry, and she has been a writer ever since. She writes middle-grade and young adult fiction as well as poetry for adults. Also an award-winning teacher, Megan has decades of experience teaching in the arts and humanities and is nationally recognized for presenting workshops and speaking to audiences across the country. Megan used to live in northeast Los Angeles, central Ohio, northern Norway, and on Caribbean cruise ships. Now she lives near Boulder, Colorado. Learn more at MeganEFreeman.com.
Aladdin
Simon & Schuster, New York
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Megan-E-Freeman
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
ALADDIN
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First Aladdin hardcover edition January 2021
Text copyright © 2021 by Megan E. Freeman
Jacket illustration copyright © 2021 by Pascal Campion
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Jacket designed by Heather Palisi
Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia
Author photograph by Laura Carson
Library of Congress Control Number 2020946086
ISBN 9781534467569 (hc)
ISBN 9781534467583 (ebook)
Excerpt on pages 362–363: “The Summer Day” from House of Light by Mary Oliver, published by Beacon Press, Boston. Copyright © 1990 by Mary Oliver, used herewith by permission of the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency, Inc.
Excerpt on page 360: The Poems of Emily Dickinson, edited by Thomas H. Johnson, Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Copyright © 1951, 1955, 1979, 1983 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College.
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