Once upon a time, there was a kid who loved fairy tales. She grew up but did not outgrow this love, even as they troubled her.

Strange things, these stories: full of talking bears and wolves and forests and blood and gold and kings and queens and, every so often, music.

Into the Bloodred Woods comes from the stories that both fed and poisoned me. And it came from my experiences in the world, both the rotten and the redemptive.

I’m not going to lie—this book took forever to write, and it exists in many wildly different forms. I came up with the idea in 2009, following a writing prompt that got me thinking about rats and girls and castles and the power of story to make us believe.

The idea for the book grew and changed as I came to better understand old stories and their intersection with life today, especially when storytellers with bad intentions rise to power.

I needed to grow in a lot of ways to write this book the way I wanted to. Fortunately I had an absolutely massive group of wonderful human beings help me along this path.

I’m grateful for my Scholastic family: my editor, Jody Corbett, who immediately understood the vision for this book and coaxed me forward with great patience and humor—through a ding-dang pandemic, of all things.

And to these wonderful humans: production editor Melissa Schirmer, designer Stephanie Yang, and cover artist Marcela Bolívar. The legendary David Levithan. The world-class marketing team of Erin Berger, Rachel Feld, Shannon Pender, and Zakiya Jamal. My beloved library marketing folks, Lizette Serrano, Emily Heddleson, and Danielle Yadao, as well as publicity wonders Taylan Salvati and Lauren Donovan. The sales team, without whom I would find no readers, and also the audio team, who bring the book to life in astounding ways: Paul Gagne, Melanie Gagne, Lori Benton, and John Pels.

Thanks also to my agent, Jennifer Laughran, who started taking care of me long before she represented me, because her heart is that capacious.

To my wonderful friends who read various versions of the book: wonderful Elana K. Arnold, Heidi Schulz, Jolie Stekly, Liz Garton Scanlon, Linda Urban, Michele Bacon, Lish McBride, Aileen Johnson, Jesse Klausmeier, Rebecca Kirshenbaum, Anna-Marie McLemore, Bridget Harrington, and Barry Goldblatt. I’m also grateful to Erin Nuttall, whose master’s thesis, “The Power of a Storyteller: Creating Non-Violent Narratives for Strong Female Characters,” gave me critical insight into my creative ambition at exactly the right time. To my colleagues at VCFA, especially Will Alexander, who nudged me further into the realm of the fantastic.

As always, my deepest gratitude goes to my family: my husband, Adam; our daughters, Lucy and Alice; and our cats and dogs. My life with you is beyond anything I could have imagined.