The Aurora County All-Stars

by Deborah Wiles

  I’m grateful for the art that existed in the world before I came to write this story. I relied on Leaves of Grass, of course, as well as The Portable Walt Whitman (edited by Mark Van Doren), and Sandy Koufax: A Lefty’s Legacy by Jane Leavy. While revising this book I listened to a wonderful CD, Leaves of Grass, Whitman’s poetry set to music by Fred Hersch, particularly the cuts “After the Dazzle of Day” and “Song of the Universal,” sung by Kate McGarry and Kurt Elling. I also kept nearby for comfort a copy of Charles Dickens’s Great Expectations, a book that was assigned reading in my tenth-grade English class in Charleston, South Carolina. Thank you, Mrs. Ackerman.

  This is the third book in the Aurora County trilogy of novels. “Come,” said the muse: How fortunate I am that Ruby Lavender showed up some years ago with her grandmother, Miss Eula, whispering in my ear. Then Marla Frazee came along to give a vision and feel to Aurora County with her transcendent covers. Designer Vaughn Andrews pulled that look together. All three books have been lovingly created and cared for by everyone at Harcourt in New York and San Diego, including Kate Harrison, Gretchen Hirsch, Mary Machado, Robin Cruise, Dan Janeck, Lydia D’moch, Julie Tibbott, Lori Benton, Paul Von Drasek, Jen Haller, and everyone in children’s marketing, especially Steve, Barb, Sarah, Kia, Ellen, and Amanda. Thank you all—you are a perfect band.

  Finally, thank you to readers everywhere for reading and sharing these stories. Here is what I have learned from you: Those we love never leave us, they are only transformed. They live on in our hearts, silently moving athwart our souls, part of the symphony true.

  About the Author

  DEBORAH WILES is the author of Each Little Bird That Sings, a National Book Award finalist and winner of the E. B. White Read Aloud Award; and Love, Ruby Lavender, an ALA Notable Children’s Book and a Children’s Book Sense 76 Pick.

  Deborah was born in Alabama and spent her childhood summers in Mississippi. (In other words, she’s a Southerner through and through.) She grew up with applesauce cakes, ice-cold lemonade, sandlot family baseball games, and the captivating words of Charles Dickens and Walt Whitman. She now lives with her family in Atlanta, Georgia.

  Learn more at www.deborahwiles.com