Acknowledgments

THIS WILL BE ROUND THREE of appreciation for most of these people, but the Pennyroyal Academy books wouldn’t exist without them. Immense thanks to Alexandra Machinist, my agent. I will never forget the day you called and told me you wanted to represent my first book. It was life changing, and I will always be grateful. A huge thank-you as well to Sally Willcox for so many calm, brilliant ideas. And a cascade of gratitude to Michelle Weiner, Jon Cassir, Kimberly Jaime, Deborah Klein, and everyone at the various agencies and firms that helped me find the perfect publishing partner in G. P. Putnam’s Sons.

To my publisher, Jennifer Besser, and my editor, Arianne Lewin, thank you for all of your care and thoughtfulness and ideas and fun phone calls. I couldn’t imagine better collaborators. And my unending thanks to everyone else at Penguin and Puffin who has helped to get these books into the world.

Thank you to my family and friends (especially my lovely wife and patron-of-the-arts, Hannah) who have supported me as I learned what it meant to be an author, and to all the teachers and librarians who have welcomed me into their schools, either in person or in book form. It means the world to get an email from a student who tells me that you put the books in their hands, and that they have found some small piece of the courage, compassion, kindness, and discipline for which the cadets at the Academy strive. It’s a reward that I never imagined when I began work on the first manuscript.

I would also like to recognize some of the sources that helped me to better understand the importance of the fairy tale. Bruno Bettelheim’s The Uses of Enchantment opened my eyes to hidden depth in stories that I had taken for granted since childhood. Dr. Allan Thexton’s insights into giants and their place in literature helped to shape this third book. And, of course, Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm’s dedication to folklore and cultural preservation have influenced so many, myself included. I was fortunate to spend some time on the Brothers Grimm Trail in central Germany, experiencing the places and sights that forged and inspired them, and it helped me to understand how dedicated and passionate these two great men were. They taught me that although fairy tales may seem frivolous and childish to many in their teenage years and beyond, they are anything but. Fairy tales will always have an important place in our world, and I will be forever grateful for that.