I had a nightmare nearly ten years ago that resulted in this book. I can’t say there’s any crossover between my weird spotty dreams and the story as it ended up, and you and I can thank these lovely people for that blessing:
Sarah McCabe, my unfailingly patient editor. She took this book from goat rodeo to a slightly more normal rodeo (are there normal rodeos?), or at least a rodeo that made sense. I mean, I think rodeos are supposed to make sense. Sarah finds all the holes and extra words, then points them out in the nicest way possible. If she decides to edit these acknowledgments, there will probably be less in them about rodeos.
The entire team at McElderry is such a privilege to work with. There are so many people who are involved in editing, setting, styling, and so many other things that I don’t have the vocabulary to properly describe the sorcery that happens behind the scenes. It’s so cool to watch my story turn from words on a page to something so magical that when I was a kid I didn’t believe books were written by people like me. I know it isn’t magic; it’s lots and lots and lots of hard work. Thank you so much to Justin Chanda, Karen Wojtyla, Anne Zafian, Bridget Madsen, Elizabeth Blake-Lin, Lauren Hoffman, Caitlin Sweeney, Alissa Nigro, Lisa Quach, Savannah Breckenridge, Anna Jarzab, Yasleen Trinidad, Saleena Nival, Emily Ritter, Annika Voss, Nicole Russo, Jenny Lu, Christina Pecorale and her sales team, and Michelle Leo and her education and library team. Last but not least, I’m so lucky to have lovely cover art from Carlos Quevedo (close the book and look at it. Seriously. It is beautiful.) and design from Greg Stadnyk.
Thanks go to my agent, Ben Grange, as always. The Wellies: Hillary Homzie, Rebecca Grabill, and Elizabeth Schoenfeld, you were there to talk to when I needed it most even though I only sent you half the book. Kristen, Cameron, and Aliah deserve more thanks than anyone else, because they read my drafts and merely nod sedately when the entire plot and all the names change halfway through rather than getting annoyed at me for not warning them or providing any context. I couldn’t ask for a better writing group. Thank you very much to Chelsea Mortenson who beta-read for me when she was supposed to be taking finals. Also, thank you to Sherri and Allen Sangster who listened to me read the first chapter enough times to memorize all sorts of words that they probably wish they could forget. Thanks to Morgan Shamy and Jenna Moulton for last minute reads and timely feedback. Thank you also Tricia Levenseller who is not only a lovely friend, but who helped wrangle the beginning of this book into something that made sense.
Thank you to my eight-year-old neighbor Evie for giving me the lovely title “Finding Mateo.” It ended up not quite fitting, but I appreciate the effort on your part to help me come up with a compelling title so I could stop working. Playing outside definitely does seem like more fun than writing books.
Thank you Grandma and Grandpa Recht for lending me space when I really needed a spot to write, to my parents-in-law for holding the world together when it could have so easily come apart at the seams. Hopefully your neighbors won’t always remember me as that girl who lived in your attic and never slept.
My immediate family deserves the most thanks of all. There aren’t words for the year this book was written. All I know is we all pulled each other through it. I wrote the story, but it’s only because of the people holding me up that I managed to get a single word on the page.