For odd ducks everywhere.
Remember, “odd duck” is just another name
for a swan.

 

And since this book had so very much to do with mummies,
it seems only right that I dedicate it to my mummy,
Dixie Young,
who ran with the wolves (or maybe it was the jackals!)
long before there was a book written about it
and had to find her own way through the wild woods.
And even with all that, she managed to hold the path open for others.
I only wish I’d understood how hard it must have been earlier.