I’m indebted to the many people without whose expertise, advice and support Little Sister wouldn’t exist. Thanking everyone would be a book in itself, but there are some who warrant special mention.
First, the genetics experts. What I remember from studying genetics at school could be written on one of Mendel’s peas, so I was thrilled to discover Mark Henderson’s 50 Genetics Ideas You Really Need to Know (Quercus Books, April 2009). For the finch facts, I turned to my good friend (and Gouldian finch nerd) Alex Topple, who provided detailed information about breeding finches for head and breast colour, accompanied by colour illustrations. Of course, any errors in expressing this expert information are mine alone.
Second, the academic research and statistics experts. Early in writing Little Sister I came across a study conducted by the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University called Writing Themselves In Again: The 2nd national report on the sexuality, health and well-being of same sex attracted young Australians. It was this research that got me thinking about homophobia and bullying in schools, and in this report that I found the percentage of homophobic bullying that takes place at school which Al quotes in her blog post. Sadly, when Writing Themselves In 3 was released in the late editing stages of this book, this figure had to be revised as it had risen from 74 to 80 per cent.
Writerly thanks go to the entire Walker Books Australia Dream Team, especially my editors, Suzanne and Virginia, who made this a much better book, Mary and Sue for their thoughtful copyediting and proofreading and designer-extraordinaire Mim. Thanks also to Super Agent Sophie Hamley for her frank advice and unswerving support.
Little Sister is a work of fiction, and none of the characters are based on real people. While Little Sister is not based on my family’s experience, no doubt it influenced this book, and that seems like as good a reason as any to thank my mum, dad and sister.
Utter thanks (and some kind of medal) are owed to my partner, beta reader and one-person support team, David.