Thank you to so many people who have supported this book from its inception many years ago: Amy Kim Kibuishi for her wholehearted recommendation to our agent and her buoying support ever since. Kazu Kibuishi for letting me work in his inspiring studio. Kean Soo for his manly crush-worthy handwriting. Ginee Seo for helping me so early in the process. The Explosion staff from the years 1997–1999 — dorkiest/coolest journalism kids ever. To some of my favorite people and earliest readers who have always encouraged me to write — the inspiration for the friendships in this book: Natalie Afshar, Katherine Ahn, Chris Ban, Maya Elson, Emma Goo, Katee and Lily Kazeminy, Jennifer Li, Erica Pak, and Jill Russell.

Thanks to my agent, Judy Hansen, for her faith in me and her relentless hard work on behalf of me and many of my friends. Crazy thanks to my editor, Cassandra Pelham, who is younger but so much wiser than me.

To all my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins who were integral to my childhood but never really as annoying as Holly’s family. To Kristi and Tony Appelhans, for reading and caring. To my sister, Christine, who suffered under my teenage years and somehow never killed me. To my parents, for enabling my lifelong reading obsession and always supporting my decisions even when they made me very poor.

And finally … to my husband, Chris Appelhans, who inspires me to be better. Who sat next to me as I wrote the first line of this novel and who yells at me to get off iChat when I’m supposed to be writing. Who is the most talented and best human I have ever met. Thank you.