by Jon Voelkel
To Sarah Nasif and Nicole Dufort of Random House: thank you for connecting us with so many wonderful bookstores. And a big thank you to all the booksellers we’ve had the honor of working with, especially: Pat at Black Forest Books & Toys; Tina, Peter, and Dave at Blue Marble; Cindy at Cardinal Lane Book Fairs; Kenny at DDG; Judith and Tom at Octavia; Brandi, Stephanie, and Eddie at Changing Hands; Emily at Lemuria; Jill at Square Books Junior; Carol at Eight Cousins; Vicky at Titcombs; Gussie at Politics and Prose; Jennifer at Barnes & Noble, Upper East Side; Sarah at Flyleaf; Vicki at Quail Ridge; Rachel at Kings English; Margot at Watchung Booksellers; Nikki and Melissa at Pudd’nhead; Betsy at The Bookshelf; Angie at The Book Carriage; Cathy at Blue Willow; Liesl and the team at Boulder Bookstore; everyone at Tattered Cover; everyone at Anderson’s; Keebe (and Christie) at McIntyre’s; Linda and Mona at Jabberwocky; Tiffany at bbgb; Trish at Hooray for Books!; Angie at The Country Bookshop; Lisa at Nightbird; Michael and Scott at Joseph Beth; Heather at Children’s Book World; Penny and Liza at The Norwich Bookstore; Liz Duffy at Baker & Taylor.
For their hard work behind the scenes, we’d like to thank all the educators, librarians, and parents around the country who’ve helped make our author visits happen. In particular: Carla Duff at Oelwein Middle School; Elizabeth Kahn at Patrick F. Taylor Science & Technology Academy; Guusje Moore and Maryanna Johnson at Housman Elementary; Monica Campana at Indian Trails Middle School; Tony Novak at Hull Elementary; Paul Hankins at Silver Creek; Donalyn Miller at Trinity Meadows Elementary; Lindy Sargent at Newport Elementary; Nathan Sekinger at Gayle Middle School; Freddie Moore and her students at Mannion Middle School; Ally in Utah; Christie Kimsey at Chatham Community Library; Claudia and Angie at the Missouri River Regional Library; Julia Chang at The New York Public Library; Jennifer Ripstra at The Penn Museum; Joel Smeltzer of The Mint Museum; Kelly Lindberg and Ben Thomas of the AIA; Mike Adams of the Boston Museum of Science; Ann Abadie of the Oxford Conference for the Book; Beth Reynolds of the Norwich Public Library; Cammie Backus of RIF.
For their excellent advice, incisive comments, and eagle-eyed proofreading, thanks to our panel of young readers: Billy Bender, Trevor Cigogna, Brett Clouse, Zea Eanet, Devon Ewing, Mateo Ellerson, Amy Fightmaster, Jennifer Funderburk, Aidan Grant, Lucille Inglis, Meredith Mackall, Sam Pocock, Alexandra Pritchard, Tobias Reynolds, Siobhan Seigne, Stefan Suazo, Parker Thurston, and special consultant, Bill Hodgkinson.
Thank you to our own three children for driving all those miles with us over bumpy dirt roads, and for being such good sports about termites for breakfast, howlers on the roof, and frogs in the bath. Thanks to family and friends for all that love, support, and unpaid labor: the amazing Captain Doctor Dre; Jack and Mary Anne; Trina; Hetty and Peter; Christy and Alan; Lisa, Juanga, and Julie; Max, Nicole, Heather, Dustin; Uncle Ted; Graham. Also to Don, Jenn, Rose, Felix, Brittany; Yaniris Sotelo; Cee, Paul, and Big Guy; Wendy Thompson.
Finally, to the person who did more than anyone else to make sure that 2012 was not the end of the world: eternal thanks to Kari Rosenkranz.