Acknowledgments
My beautiful wife and agent Alison Fargis was the first person to believe in this book. Quite possibly she was the first person to believe in me. I feared I could not write such a thing, but she told me to be brave, so I was. Aside from her, two other people were instrumental in taking it from an idea to an actual book. The first was Reka Simonsen, who acquired it, loved it, raved about it, and helped me steer the first draft through murky waters. When Reka left for a new adventure, Sarah Landis came in to captain the ship into the harbor with clever ideas and just the right amount of hand holding. I want to thank everyone at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for making it an effortless transition.
I didn’t leap into this assuming I could do it. I studied the works of people who do this better than most. Libba Bray, E. Lockhart, David Levithan, Adele Griffin, Andrew Smith, and Laini Taylor stand out as inspiration. Their writings were my silent lighthouses guiding me away from the rocks. Then there was the thoughtful encouragement of writers I actually know and trust. Julia DeViller was endlessly supportive and eager to read, and much to my joy, Adele Griffin was as amazing in real life as she is on the page. So nice to be friends with your hero. Rebecca Serle allowed me to pick her brain to see if I was dwelling in the world of a teenage girl. Few write the hearts of young people as well as Rebecca, and she was a patient, brilliant sage on all things love and literary. I hope that I managed to attain that “just above the knee” approach. Thanks.
As always, I thank my best friend, Joe Deasy, who reads and loves what I do, yet laughs hysterically at my atrocious grammar and spelling.
And I thank my son, Finn, my little man, who keeps getting older despite my many requests that he not. I love you, and I love the stories you tell me. You’re my favorite author.
About the Author
Michael Buckley’s two best-selling series, the Sisters Grimm and NERDS, have sold more than 2.5 million copies and appear in twenty-two languages. He has also worked as a standup comic, a television writer, an advertising copywriter, a pasta maker, and a singer in a punk rock band. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Alison, and their son, Finn.