This book is dedicated to:

THE STAFF OF KINGSTOWNE LIBRARY and LIBRARIANS EVERYWHERE—Underpaid, underappreciated, and underestimated guardians of the world’s knowledge, you encourage and grow generations of readers and thinkers.

AND YOU, DEAR READERS—Characters are words on a page that only come to life when you read them. Thank you for spending a few hours of your precious time with Riley and me.

xo Meri