IF YOU’RE READING THIS, then I owe you a big thank-you. Thank you for picking up this book, or ordering it from your favorite bookstore or online, and thank you for making it to the very last page. Without you, I couldn’t do what I do.
Thanks also to my brilliant editor, Kristin Rens, for giving me the time I needed to make this book right, and for believing in the book from Day One. And thanks to the entire Balzer + Bray team who worked on it, through editing, marketing, or promoting: Caroline Sun, Michelle Taormina, Alison Donalty, Renée Cafiero, Nellie Kurtzman, Kelsey Murphy, Jenna Lisanti, Margot Wood, and Aubry Parks-Fried.
To Josh Adams and the Adams Lit team: This book wouldn’t be in print if it weren’t for you. I’ll never forget sending that email that went something like “What about a human zoo . . .” and getting Josh’s big “YES” back. Thank you for helping to navigate this book in all its stages, from proposal through many, many edits, and now into publication.
I had so many critique partners on this book, there are almost too many to thank, and if I forget any, my deepest apologies: Ellen Oh, Stephanie Perkins, Alexandra Duncan, Megan Miranda (who must have read a dozen drafts), April Tucholke (who is also the reason this book made it to print), Courtney Stevens, Amie Kaufman, and Gina Montefusco. For emotional support and factual information, thanks to Carrie Ryan and Natalie Whipple, as well as the Asheville writing group. And a big thanks to the Bat Cave gang, who didn’t look at me too strangely when I jumped up at dinner and said I wanted to write about a human zoo. To Tiffany Trent, my muse, whose real-life stories gave me the spark for this idea.
And thanks are also due to my amazing nonwriting network of friends and family: my parents, Peggy and Tim, who have long been supporters of all things books; my sister, Lena; the Shepherds; and most of all my husband, Jesse. Even if we never make it to Mars, we’ve made a great life together.