ABJECT THANKS

My everlasting thanks to Wesley Adams at FSG Books for Young Readers for embracing the screwball weirdness of my creation and for being on the same page in general. Thanks also to my wife, Ann, for taking away the router so I could have peace and quiet to write (among other kindnesses). Additional thanks to my agent, Sally Harding, especially for field-testing the Ruth Less suit, and Ron Eckel for international adventures.

For those intrepid explorers at FSG BYR who accompanied Jonathan on his misadventures and went behind him sentence-by-sentence correcting his and his friends’ mistakes and helping his story get out into the world, my thrilling and heartfelt apologies for the length of the journey and the lack of appropriate accommodations: Senior Designer Aurora Parlagreco; Production Editor Taylor Pitts; Copyeditor Patricia McHugh; Proofreaders Janine Barlow and Mandy Veloso; Assistant Editor Melissa Warten; Assistant Production Manager Celeste Cass; Associate Marketing Managers Teresa Ferraiolo and Melissa Croce; Executive Director of Publicity Molly B. Ellis; and Executive Director of Subrights Kristin Dulaney. Special thanks for keen and useful observations: Ann VanderMeer, Jonathan Wood, Jackie Gitlin, Jeremy Zerfoss, Aeman Ansari, and Alex Blaszczuk.

Apologies to the bird-children in the backyard for bouncing so many story ideas off them during this process. I know it became tiresome, especially to the wrens (who had better things to do). But I appreciate the tip about puffins.

Finally, thanks to the summer tanagers for peeking in my office window from time to time, out of concern for my well-being while I was working on these novels.

 

“I am mighty now …”