The Secret of Rover

by Rachel Wildavsky

  Mrs. Bowden yelped and the president clapped Alex on the back and kissed Alicia and there was another round of hugs and congratulations. They might never have stopped except that eventually Theo began to cry, which again made all of them laugh.

  “That’s a heck of a cry!” said the president. “Bet our Rover could find her with that!” Then he sighed. “Duty calls!” he said. And he straightened his tie, saluted, and headed off to the press room.

  “I’m starving,” said David, which made the rest of them realize that they had not eaten either. So they all headed out to breakfast together: Alex and Alicia, Mike and Betty, and all five of the Bowdens.

  David got to carry his new sister, so he lagged behind. “What a lot of trouble you caused,” he scolded gently, looking into her tiny face. But Theo simply yawned and went to sleep.

  The Secret of Rover is fiction. Many of the places in it are entirely imaginary. Other places in this story are real, but I’ve changed them for the benefit of my characters, Katie and David.

  For instance, Katkajan is my own invention. Vermont is real, but the towns of Melville and Hawthorne are not. I made them up, and I chose to name them for two of my heroes: the great American authors Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

  Yonkers is a real place, but the truck stop that I’ve put in it is, again, fictional. And as for Washington DC, I’m afraid I’ve invented a couple of places within it—such as the neighborhood of Katie and David’s old house—and I’ve moved a few other places around.

  Some of what I say about Washington is true, though. I have seen the office of the Secretary of State. Though the building that houses it is plain, not fancy, this office is indeed ornate and beautiful. I’ve also been privileged over the years to enter the White House many times, and I can report that the interior is very much as I’ve described it.

  “You’ve never heard of me, but I’ve written a novel.” If you want to make publishers and agents disappear, those are your magic words. I’m particularly grateful, therefore, to three people who stuck around. They are Liza Voges of Eden Street, my kind and adroit agent; Howard Reeves, editor at large of Amulet Books, who took a chance on me; and Amulet’s Vice President and Publisher, Susan Van Metre, who warmly embraced the project. The rest of the Amulet team confirmed my opinion that my book ended up in the best possible hands.

  I’m grateful, too, to the many young readers who agreed to look at my book and tell me what they thought. In alphabetical order, these smart and insightful kids include Miriam Israel, Gabriel Javitt, Joseph Johnson, David Lane, Zachary Moser, Ezra Schwartz, Leah Schwartz, Nathaniel Schwartz, Jenny Shore, Aaron Troy, and Eli Weissler. Abigail Friedland and Francesca Furtchgott shared their thoughts and encouragement about an earlier effort. Publishing takes time, so many of these readers are in high school now, or even beyond.

  Kelly Corrigan, who teaches the fifth grade at North Chevy Chase Elementary School in Chevy Chase, Maryland, graciously read an early draft. Sarah Kass, who teaches seventh grade English at Westland Middle School in Bethesda, Maryland, welcomed me and Rover to her classroom. In the days before I found Liza, Jon and Aliza Lerner generously helped me circulate my manuscript, and Dan Troy patiently explained the meanings of various potential contracts.

  My good friend Anne Himmelfarb has been an endlessly tolerant listener and an invaluable critic. I’ve lost count of the number of times Anne has taken home a manuscript of mine, and I can’t quantify the benefit I’ve derived from her comments on what she has read.

  My children, Eva, Aaron, and Saul Wildavsky, are my fiercest critics, but there is no one whose good opinion I value more. Their insistence on the highest possible standards has immeasurably improved this book, and their confidence that it would find its way into print has buoyed me up.

  It takes time to write a book—time that must be pried away from other necessities. My husband, Ben, has watched me pry away a lot more of it than either of us expected when the book began, yet somehow he is cheering me on as we cross the finish line. I’m grateful for that and much more. The thought of trying to itemize it overwhelms me.

  My debt to my parents, Arnold and Nancy Flick, can’t be itemized either. In all my life, their love for me has never faltered. This book is dedicated to them.

  RACHEL WILDAVSKY is a former journalist who has written for the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, among many other publications. She has also worked for the White House under two presidents. Today she works for a private educational philanthropy. She lives in a suburb of Washington DC, with her husband and their three children.

  This book was designed by Maria T. Middleton and art directed by Chad W. Beckerman. The text is set in 10-point LinoLetter, a slab-serif typeface designed by Reinhard Haus and Andre Gürtler in cooperation with the Linotype Design Studio in the 1980s. Released by Linotype in 1992, LinoLetter is a highly legible typeface created specifically for mass-produced publications such as magazines and newspapers.

  The display typefaces are Bullet Small Caps Alternate and Eurostile Extended 2.