This is surprising. “I talk all the time.”
“No, you don’t,” she says after a second of looking me up and down. “But maybe you think that you do. I think that’s interesting.”
“You didn’t seem to think it was so interesting when you and your friends treated me the way you did.”
“Anise Fowler wasn’t my friend,” she says. “She hated me the most of all. She’d sit with me just so she could torture me. I let it happen for a long time. But then I changed. I had a pretty eventful year, you know.”
I have to smile. “I can’t wait to hear all about it, then.”
It takes a village to create a book, and I’m lucky enough to have had the support of many:
Beth Phelan, rock star agent, who championed and helped shape the seed of Hurricane Child.
Legendary editor Andrea Pinkney, whose vision helped make Hurricane Child what it is today, along with the rest of the amazing Scholastic crew: David Levithan, Kait Feldmann, Natalia Remis, Deimosa Webber-Bay, Lizette Serrano, Lauren Donovan, Michelle Campbell, Emily Heddleson, Baily Crawford, Melissa Schirmer, Rachel Gluckstern, and Angelique Browne, along with artist Tonya Engel, who made the book come to life with a beautiful cover.
My friends, who gave invaluable feedback and support: Nikki Garcia, Hayley Chewins, Shannon Rogers, Jennifer Poe, and Katherine Webber.
And above all else, my family: especially my dad, Caswil Callender, and Auntie Jacqui, who have always believed in me, and who I think of when I’m not so sure of myself. And my mom, Barbara Callwood, who has read every piece of writing and heard every tearful monologue about my fears and uncertainties on whether I’ll ever see one of my books published, and has forever remained unflinching in her belief that I one day would.
Born and raised on St. Thomas of the US Virgin Islands, Kheryn Callender holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College, where they studied fine arts, Japanese, and creative writing, as well as an MFA from The New School’s Writing for Children program. Hurricane Child marks their debut novel.
Copyright © 2018 by Kheryn Callender
Lyrics from BLACKBIRD
Copyright © 1963, 1964 (Renewed) WB MUSIC CORP.
Words and Music by NINA SIMONE and HERB SACKER
Used by Permission of ALFRED MUSIC
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 2017032545
ISBN 978-1-338-12930-4
First edition, April 2018
Jacket art © 2018 by Tonya Engel
Jacket design by Baily Crawford
e-ISBN 978-1-338-12932-8
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication 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 the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
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