by Chris Negron
I started thinking, though, about other people who suffer from the same disease I do. Maybe some of them aren’t as stubborn as me. Certainly all of them have different challenges from me—one of the odd things about Parkinson’s is that it affects each person who has it a little bit differently. What might it be like, for instance, for someone with a job working with their hands a lot more than me? Someone who relied on the precision of their fingers, someone who might even be in danger if their hands were as unpredictable as mine sometimes are? Might they throw in the towel before realizing that maybe they didn’t really have to?
These “What Ifs” were the starting point for the character that became Lucas Taylor, the Super Chef. Not long after, Curtis Pith arrived in my imagination. I knew right away that Curtis had inside him that stubbornness, that same refusal to give up on his dreams, no matter what might stand in his way, that I had recognized in myself.
I started to see how Curtis and the Super Chef were connected to each other, and how they weren’t, too. I glimpsed a future where they might be able to help each other get through their very different challenges.
Speaking of connections, our ties to each other are really important. They’re what make us . . . well, us, and it’s often other people who help authors turn their disorganized thoughts and ideas and feelings into actual books. That happened with this project, too, and it means I have a ton of people to thank for making this story real.
First and foremost, my editor, Elizabeth Lynch, who shaped this book into what it needed to be through several revisions. I often hear stories from writers who struggle with their second book, but Elizabeth made finding the core of this story easier than I would have expected. She told me openly when I was saying too much, or too little, or not being as clear as I needed to be. She zeroed in on these characters and their stories in a way that I never could’ve done on my own. I’m forever grateful to have been able to work with her on this book.
The rest of the team at HarperCollins as well—especially Chris Kwon for another fabulous book design and Chelen Ecija for her unparalleled artistry on the cover, front and back. I can hardly verbalize the wonder an author experiences when something entirely in our heads—like a TV set for a made-up cooking show—is turned into a real visual on a cover that will forever live alongside that story. Not to mention Jill Amack, Laura Harshberger, Jacqueline Hornberger, Vaishali Nayak, and Mitch Thorpe for all their amazing and priceless contributions.
Thank you to my agent, Alyssa Jennette, who is always beside me at just the right moment, pushing me and my stories in the proper direction. I couldn’t do this work without your constant and treasured guidance.
I shared early chapters with a couple of different critique groups, to make sure I was headed in the right direction. Thanks goes to the Forsyth Public Library Writing group, led by Kim Ottenson and including Michelle Tompkins, Toni Bellon, Nicole Collier Harp, Heather Elrod, Justin Joseph, Leo Penha, Meg Robinson, and Rich Smith, among many other rotating members. You gave me the confidence to know I was off to a good start.
Thanks also to my other chapter review group, consisting of JD and Ellie Jordan, Emily Carpenter, Jane Haessler, and George Weinstein, for listening to and commenting on early chapters of this project. One of my favorite memories of starting this book is when I left chapter one at JD and Ellie’s house and they shared it with their daughter, who returned it to me with an “A+” slashed across the top. There is no better salve for the inevitable imposter syndrome a kid lit writer fights than getting a good grade from an actual young person who is at the right reading age.
To my constant support group, my Rojo squad, Becky Albertalli, M.J. Pullen, Emily Carpenter, and George Weinstein, thank you so much. Most of the time I have no idea how I ended up writing books or surviving the publishing industry, but anything I do know is because of meetings with and advice from y’all.
Special gratitude goes to Ivy Knight, food writer extraordinaire and former chef, who read an early version of this book and helped me get all my food- and cooking- and chef-related problems fixed. Any remaining errors are definitely because that stubborn part of me didn’t listen to her, which makes them entirely mine.
To all my family, who I cannot name here but many of whose names I try to include in the pages of these stories, thank you for being the reason I can write inspiring family books for kids.
My mother Joyce continues to be my number one fan, and I so appreciate her for it. This book is dedicated to you, not because you were ever a single mom, but due to my father traveling so much when we were very young, I know you had to do lots of single-mom-ish things. I hope when you read the scenes between Curtis and his mother, you can see how I’m trying to thank you.
Speaking of my dad, I do wish he could’ve read these stories, too. I think he would’ve liked them.
Lastly, thank you to my wife, Mary, for her constant love and support. This book is about not giving up, about looking forward to your own future and not fearing it, even if you can’t predict what’s to come. It’s about diving in with two feet when you can’t see the bottom. In that sense, it was easy to write, because it’s what we do every day, together.
About the Author
Photo by Bobbi Jo Brooks
CHRIS NEGRON grew up outside Buffalo, New York, where he spent a huge chunk of his childhood collecting comic books and loving sports. But it was the hours of playing Dungeons and Dragons in friends’ basements that first gave him the dream of one day writing his own stories. That dream kept him company through college at Yale University and years of programming computers for big companies. He is the author of Dan Unmasked and The Last Super Chef, and he now lives outside Atlanta with his wife, Mary.
Visit him at www.chrisnegron.com.
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Copyright
THE LAST SUPER CHEF. Copyright © 2021 by Chris Negron. 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
Cover art © 2021 by Chelen Ecija
Cover design by Chris Kwon
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Digital Edition JULY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-294309-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-294313-2
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2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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