There are not enough thank-yous in the world for my mother and father, Linda Zebley-Stump and Joseph McDaniel, who taught me to value education, try new things, and do my best. Thank you for reading to me and always believing in me.
Siblings don’t come cooler than my brother, Mike McDaniel. Thanks for your early feedback, sense of humor, friendship, and excellent tunes.
Utmost gratitude to my grandparents, Josephine and Thomas McDaniel, Thomas Zebley, and Sally and John Sitek, who have always cheered me on, broadened my horizons, and loved me no matter what.
Everyone should be so lucky as to have a best friend like Lauren-Alice Lamanna, my first and favorite co-author. Thank you for swapping notebooks and CDs, plotting bands and book series, and twenty-five years of friendship.
Much love to my favorite pen pal, Nathan Tatro, for over a decade of support and friendship.
I should have played the lottery the day Amy Tipton entered my life. Thank you for your positivity, feedback, and work on behalf of me and this manuscript, and for believing in this book.
The entire Roaring Brook team deserves a standing ovation, including Maya Packard, Nancy Elgin, Andrew Arnold, and especially Katherine Jacobs for her excellent editorial insight.
Thanks to all those who read and provided feedback on early versions of this book, particularly Abby Reed and Charles Holdefer.
Special thanks to the many supportive teachers I’ve been lucky enough to learn from, including Lycoming College’s G.W. Hawkes and Rosemont College’s Cyndi Reeves, whose input on this project was invaluable.
And last but most certainly not least, words fail to express all the love and gratitude I have for Brian and Zadie Fenn, who inspire me to be better every day. I wrote parts of this book while an infant slept on me, and now that baby is a funny, smart, curious, wonderful little girl. And everyone needs a co-pilot, a partner in adventuring and raising baby sea otters. I’m lucky beyond measure to have found that and more in my husband. Our story is my favorite.