Acknowledgments

I am so grateful to the many the folks who joined me on various legs of this long publishing road trip.

Thanks to those who generously volunteered their time and minds to read drafts, provide answers to research questions, and give indispensable feedback and loving encouragement: Christopher Baker, Nena Boling-Smith, John Brockhaus, Erin Courage, Vincent Delaney, Donte Felder, Andrea Flores, Dr. Ernest Flores, Maria Flores, Emma Flores-Scott, Andy May, Doug Kasischke, Jessica McClinton-Lopez, Dickie Ogaz, Bruce Patt, Wendy Rasmussen, Heidi Raykeil, Meg Richman, Charlie Scott, Maria Scott, Eric Smith, Angie Stark, Cristian Uriostegui, Aldo Velasco, and Dorothy Velasco. Thank you all.

Thanks to Joy Allison and her students at Tiger Mountain Community High School, and Jeff Kass and his students at Pioneer High School.

Thanks to the members of my Ann Arbor “Newbery” book club and critique group for the much-needed comradeship.

Thanks to Jessica Anderson at Christy Ottaviano Books/Henry Holt for all of her work in support of American Road Trip, and to Starr Baer and Katie Klimowicz at Macmillan for the production editing and design work that helped bring readers this story in such a beautiful package.

Thanks to my agent, Steven Chudney, for understanding and supporting this project from the outset, and for years of persistence in helping to advance this book through all of its stages.

Thanks to my editor, Christy Ottaviano, for seeing the potential in Teodoro’s story through the mire of early, epic drafts and pendulum-swinging rewrites. Thanks for keeping the vision of what this book could be throughout the process and for managing all of my post-deadline requests. Thanks for guiding this road trip home.

Thanks to my boys, Carlos and Diego, for joining me in my office for early-morning group writes and for all the hugs and cheerleading.

Thanks to my wife, Emma, for her never-ending love, for her belief in my storytelling life, and for helping me to keep my feet as near to the ground as possible. Without her, there is no way I’m typing these words that can only come when a book is finished.

And finally, thanks to the Scott, Hernandez, and Flores families for their undying support and for being a constant inspiration as I worked to write the story of a family that perseveres.