Acknowledgments

I THANK ALL THE AUTHORS OF CHILDREN’S BOOKS WHO inspired me as a child to turn a flowered couch into a covered wagon, a ship, or a house in the big woods. I still like to play make-believe, but now I call it research for the historical fiction I write today.

My agent, Steven Chudney, found me the perfect team to work with: Nancy Paulsen and her imprint at Penguin Young Readers. Nancy gently coaxed me into revisions and additions that gave the book its heart. Her assistant, Sara LaFleur, eased me into modern online editing. Robert Farren, meticulous copy editor, and Kathleen Keating, equally meticulous proofreader, saved me from anachronisms, time warps, and assorted boo-boos. Erika Steiskal painted the captivating jacket art. My thanks also to everyone else at Penguin who helped get this book out into the world, and to librarians and booksellers who will put this book into the hands of readers.

I started research with books, and thank the staff of libraries in Palmer, Alaska; Everett, Washington; and the University of Alaska. Outside the library, I appreciate the help of longtime friends who live in the valley, Bill and Caroline Prosser, their sons Loren and Alan and their families, and Bill Prosser’s mother, Sophie, who invited me to their fish camp to see how salmon are caught and canned.

Weekly emails with my writing friends helped me finish this book with sanity intact: Amy Fellner Dominy, Alissa Grosso, Kiki Hamilton, Penny Holland, Julia Karr, Deb Lund, Christina Mandelski, Gae Polisner, Bettina Restrepo, Caroline Starr Rose, Angie Smibert, and Ruby Tanaka.

I couldn’t write without the support of my family:

My sisters, Helen and Randi, still my best friends, who never doubted I could write this book;

My son, Rolf, who started it all with his Palmer house, and his wife, Lilly, who reminded me to include Palmer’s winds;

My daughter, Emily (also a children’s librarian and one of my best boosters), and her husband, Hampton;

My grandsons, Gosta (junior editor in training), Arthur (who reminds me to laugh), and Iggy (the jellied moose nose recipe is for you);

My cat, Billi (named after Billiken, the symbol of the 1909 Alaska Yukon Pacific Exposition), who herds me like a sheepdog to the computer to write every day;

And through it all, my husband, Gosta, who converted the woodshed into my quiet writing hideaway and humors his writing wife.