A massive note of appreciation to Debbie Kovacs. When she asked what I was working on, and I responded that I wasn’t so much “working” as taking bubble baths and staring at the ceiling, while pondering a mysterious island full of children, she replied, “That sounds like important work to me. Don’t rush yourself.” It was exactly the permission I needed at that moment in time, and it made this a different book altogether.
To Jordan Brown. An author fantasizes of an editor saying, “Do exactly what you’re doing, only more of it.” Working together on this book has been a dream come true, and I can’t thank him enough for seeing where I was headed before I knew myself. His thoughtful precision and care have been a miracle to me.
To everyone else at Walden Pond Press and HarperCollins, many of whom I’ve yet to meet—including Danielle Smith, Patty Rosati, Viana Siniscalchi, Donna Bray, Amy Ryan, Renée Cafiero, Alana Whitman, Caroline Sun, Kristen Eckhardt, and Maya Haroutunian Myers. There’s a kind of alchemy to bookmaking. A baffling process that somehow turns a story into a beautiful object, and then shares that object with the world. I am so grateful to all of you for your time, effort, intelligence, and magic. This book would not exist without you.
And to Tina Wexler, always and forever. Ten years ago, I signed on for an agent and got a friend for life. She reads all the drafts and talks me through my moments of doubt. I couldn’t do this without her.
But most of all, thanks to my family. To my parents, for the very particular island they set me loose on. To Henry, Emma, Roy, and Susan, who shared it with me. To Moose and Lewis, for helping me find my way back. And to Chris. Who reminds me when it’s time to get in the boat.
Such love!
About the Author
LAUREL SNYDER is a poet, essayist, and author of picture books and novels for children, including The Longest Night, Bigger than a Bread Box, and Seven Stories Up. She is also the editor of the nonfiction anthology Half/Life: Jew-ish Tales from Interfaith Homes, a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and a commentator for NPR’s All Things Considered. She lives in Atlanta with her family and can be found online at www.laurelsnyder.com.
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Books by Laurel Snyder
Seven Stories Up
Bigger than a Bread Box
Penny Dreadful
Any Which Wall
Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains
Credits
Cover art © 2017 by DAVID LITCHFIELD
Cover design by AMY RYAN
Copyright
Walden Pond Press is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
Walden Pond Press and the skipping stone logo are trademarks and registered trademarks of Walden Media, LLC.
ORPHAN ISLAND. Copyright © 2017 by Laurel Snyder. Map art © 2017 by David Litchfield. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
ISBN 978-0-06-244341-0 (trade bdg.)
EPub Edition © May 2017 ISBN 9780062443434
17 18 19 20 21 PC/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
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