Water Balloon

by Audrey Vernick

  Shout out to Holly Lemanowicz, my first (then) teen reader.

  Two incredibly supportive groups, the Atomic Engineers and the Gango, have provided grand companionship on the bumpy road. The New Jersey State Council on the Arts honored an early version of this novel with a fiction fellowship; I will always be grateful.

  A barrel of mojitos for Erin Murphy for having a good feeling when this manuscript went out into the world, and for seven million other things (NS).

  My thanks to everyone at Clarion Books for the solid support and the deeply appreciated show of faith in a debut novelist, particularly Jennifer Greene, an editor with just the right touch and a very generous soul, even if she does favor the wrong season.

  Big, back-slapping hugs to all my family and friends who celebrate each incremental achievement as though I single-handedly developed the alphabet, especially Aunt Eleanor, Karen Ravn, Tara Michaels, Abby Parigian, Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, Pamela Ross, Lisa Mullarkey, and Karen Be son.

  I end with love and thanks (and a Danish basket or two) for Michael, Jacob, and Anna, for allowing me to disappear to write and for the kind of unwavering support and pride that powers a creative life. I'm grateful that you've made our home a place filled with wise, kind, and funny book-loving people. It's my favorite place to be.