Just like a political campaign, Yes No Maybe So wouldn’t be possible without the team of passionate people who believed in this story and made magic happen behind the scenes. We’re filled to the brim with gratitude for the many people in our corner, including:
Our brilliant editor, Donna Bray, who is changing history one book at a time.
Our phenomenal team at HarperCollins and Balzer + Bray, including Tiara Kittrell; Suzanne Murphy; Jean McGinley; Andrea Pappenheimer and team; Nellie Kurtzman, Audrey Diestelkamp, and team; Sari Murray; Patty Rosati and team; Alison Donalty and Chris Kwon; and Alessandra Balzer.
Soumbal Qureshi for the gorgeous cover art.
Our squad of rock star agents: Taylor Martindale Kean, Brooks Sherman, Wendi Gu, Stephanie Koven, Mary Pender, Kim Yau, and our teams at Full Circle, Janklow & Nesbit, UTA, and Paradigm.
Lucy Rogers and our incredible team from Simon & Schuster UK, Leonel Teti and his fellow superstars at Puck, and the rest of our amazing international publishers, who took a chance on a book about US local elections.
Stacey Abrams, for literally everything.
The booksellers, librarians, teachers, Instagrammers, bloggers, and YouTubers, who help our books find their readers. You deserve the world.
Our expert readers, who made this book so much better with their thoughtful feedback: Mike Reitzes, Celeste Pewter, and Jennifer Dugan—and a special shout-out to Amie Herbert for bar mitzvah consultation!
The friends who offered their wisdom, talked us through titles and covers, and kept our heads on straight: S. K. Ali, Sakib Qureshi and Sameera Fazili, Adam Silvera, Jasmine Warga, David Arnold, Angie Thomas, Emily X.R. Pan, Nic Stone, Mackenzi Lee, Meg Medina, Rose Brock, Dahlia Adler, and so many more.
Matthew Eppard, Diana Sousa, and Sharon Morse, as well as both Phil Bildner and Cristin Terrill at the Author Village, who keep the world spinning.
Our biggest champions: Kalsoom and Anwar Saeed, Eileen Thomas, Jim and Candy Goldstein, Ali Saeed, Aamir Saeed, Caroline Goldstein, Sam Goldstein, and the Albertallis—with next-level, holy-fork gratitude to Kashif Iqbal and Brian Albertalli, who held down the fort during all the hours at Intermezzo and the Target patio session.
The kiddos who make the whole fight worthwhile: Waleed, Owen, Musa, Henry, and Zayn.
The volunteers, staffers, canvassers, protesters, resisters, voters, and all of you who have your representatives’ numbers on speed dial. We see you, and we appreciate your efforts with all our hearts.
The organizations who have been fighting the good fight all along. There are far too many great ones to mention, but here are a few of our favorites. Check out their websites to learn more about them, and consider donating if you can.
American Civil Liberties Union: www.aclu.org
Southern Poverty Law Center: www.splcenter.org
Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services: www.raicestexas.org
Rock the Vote: www.rockthevote.org
Fair Fight: www.fairfight.com