by Darcy Miller
Sutton and I watch anxiously. The pigeons are starting to come together in a loose formation now, but they’re not rolling yet.
What if they’re still spooked from the hawk attack? What if they don’t roll at all?
I tip my head back, searching for Crow.
The kit is soaring higher now. I lick my lips nervously. If they go too high, that’s it. They’ll just spend the entire twenty minutes doing laps above the coop.
Sutton reaches for my hand.
Come on, I chant in my head. You can do it.
I’m not sure which one of us is squeezing the other one’s hand the hardest.
With less than a minute to go, the first bird drops.
“Crow,” I say aloud. “It’s Crow!”
“Time-in,” Sutton shouts, dropping my hand. “Time-in!”
I tilt my head back, shielding my eyes.
As everyone watches, the rest of the birds launch themselves backward, following Crow’s lead.
They’re rolling.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
There aren’t enough nice things to say about everyone who has helped turn Roll into an actual book. Enormous thanks to my amazing agent, Carrie Hannigan; I can’t imagine where I would be without you. Thanks as well to Tanusri Prasanna, Danielle Burby, and everyone at HSG Agency.
A heartfelt thank you to Annie Berger for falling in love with Roll, as well as to my wonderful editor Jess MacLeish for being legitimately great at her job. Thanks to Becca Stadtlander and Kate Klimowicz for my awesome cover, and thanks to Veronica Ambrose and everyone at HarperCollins for the staggering amount of work that goes into publishing a novel.
Thanks to my dad, Wayne Feder, for not getting rid of his pigeons like he assured my mother he would before they were married. Thanks to my mom, Lynda Feder, for not getting rid of my dad in return.
Apologies to Wyle and Fitz for not putting any cats in the book.
And finally, thanks to my husband, Ben. You’re pretty much the best in all possible ways.
REN’S PIGEON FACTS
PEOPLE HAVE BEEN RAISING PIGEONS for longer than you’d probably think. Seriously. We’re talking ancient Egypt here, people.
FAMOUS PIGEON FANCIERS INCLUDE Walt Disney, Charles Darwin, and Queen Elizabeth II. The artist Pablo Picasso loved pigeons so much that he named his daughter “Paloma,” the Spanish word for pigeon. So I guess I’m not the one whose dad gave them a terrible name.
WHILE BIRMINGHAM ROLLERS tumble through the sky, another breed known as Parlor Rollers somersaults backward on the ground; they look like bowling balls. You should probably Google that right now.
IN WORLD WAR II, the allies used pigeons to carry messages behind enemy lines. Basically, pigeons used to be spies. A few of them even received medals for bravery.
A FEW CENTURIES AGO, pigeon poop was a big deal. People used it for fertilizer, and it was worth a lot of money. Armed guards used to stand outside of dovecotes (which is a fancy word for pigeon houses) and make sure no one stole it.
HEADS UP: if you ever order “squab” at a restaurant, you’ll be eating pigeon. So, you know . . . probably don’t order squab.
SOME PIGEONS HAVE LIVED OVER FIFTEEN YEARS, which is longer than most dogs. Plus, pigeons won’t drool on you.
UNLESS THEY’RE SEPARATED FROM EACH OTHER, pigeons tend to mate for life. Which means pigeon couples are probably together longer than most celebrity couples.
THE FASTEST PIGEON on record flew over ninety miles per hour. That’s faster than the speed limit! Well, in America, anyway.
SPEAKING OF FAST PIGEONS, a champion racing pigeon named after Olympic athlete Usain Bolt once sold for over $400,000 dollars. Can you even imagine how many comic books you could buy with $400,000?
BIRMINGHAM ROLLERS WERE BRED in the 1800s in Birmingham, England. Half of the members of Led Zeppelin also came from Birmingham. Sutton says that Led Zeppelin is a famous band from the seventies. She’s pretty sure I wouldn’t like their music.
OVER A THOUSAND OF THE WORLD’S TOP FANCIERS from North America, Europe, Africa, and Australia compete in the annual World Cup Fly each year. A single judge spends over two months travelling from country to country in order to name the winner. Yep, two entire months. World Cup judges really like pigeons.
THE UNITED STATES’ NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP FLY is flown each fall to determine America’s national champion. Sutton and I haven’t won it . . . yet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Photo by Matthew Tredinnick
DARCY MILLER lives in Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin, with her two small children and librarian husband. Their cat, Jeffreys, deserves his own sentence. Darcy is the daughter of a world-class Birmingham Roller Pigeons fancier. Roll is her first novel. You can visit Darcy online at www.darcyamiller.com.
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CREDITS
Cover art © 2017 by BECCA STADTLANDER
Cover design by KATIE KLIMOWICZ
COPYRIGHT
ROLL. Copyright © 2017 by Darcy Miller. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
ISBN 978-0-06-246122-3 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © May 2017 ISBN 9780062461308
17 18 19 20 21 CG/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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