To my family, the Acevedos and the Amadis, thank you for reminding me what it means to return home. What it means to carry home with you across far-flung places. What it means to feed and love your people. What it means to come from magic. Thank you forevermore for supporting my dreams.
To my family-in-love: the Cannons, the Moyes, and the Cannon-Moyes, thank you for welcoming me to South Jersey and Ayden, North Carolina. For feeding me at Thanksgiving, for continuing our never-ending spades tournament, for sharing yourselves, and your stories, with me. And a special thanks to Nyjeri, for answering my questions about toddlers and for giving me such sweet and smart nieces; Zaria & Yara, I hope to keep trying to make the world safer and better for you, and to write stories that celebrate both your ferocity and your tenderness.
To my beloved, Shakir, here’s an ode to Philly haircuts, traveling the world, and the only adage that matters: if I eat, you eat. Thanks for never letting me doubt myself, for reading everything I write, and for reminding me to celebrate even the most simple Tuesday. I love you.
Ancestors: always. Gang, gang. Who would I be if you were not? What are my stories if not but a continuation of the threads you unspooled? What do I owe you if not everything? And yet, you remind me time and again I owe you nothing but this honest, brave, full self.
Pa’lante siempre.
About the Author
Photo credit Stephanie Ifendu
ELIZABETH ACEVEDO is the author of The Poet X, which won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature, the Michael L. Printz Award, the Pura Belpré Award, and the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award. She is a National Poetry Slam champion and holds an MFA in creative writing from the University of Maryland. Acevedo lives with her partner in Washington, DC. You can find out more about her at www.acevedowrites.com.
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Books by Elizabeth Acevedo
The Poet X
With the Fire on High
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Copyright
HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
WITH THE FIRE ON HIGH. Copyright © 2019 by Elizabeth Acevedo. 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.
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Cover and case art © 2019 by Erick Davila
Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018962097
Digital Edition MAY 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-266285-9
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-266283-5
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1920212223PC10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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