To all my former students, thank you for cheering me on. Many of you saw all the highs and lows of my publishing journey. I’ll never forget the parties you threw for me at each milestone. Teaching you made me a better writer. I can’t wait to see my name in your acknowledgments one day.
To all my family that have encouraged me and put up with my weird comments at every family function, thank you. Thank you to my sisters who always have my back. Thank you to my parents for letting my imagination run absolutely wild as a kid and then putting up with the fact that I never grew out of it. I would not be typing this if you hadn’t supported my dreams. Thanks, Dad, for the many, many funny lines you’ve given me for my stories. Thanks, Mom, for listening to me ramble on and on while working out my story ideas, and for somehow understanding what I’m trying to say. Lucas, Liam, and Gabriel, the wild stories you three spin rival my own imagination. You’re the light in my life. Love you.
To Nana, Bampa, Grammy, Papa, and Marge: I know you’re all so proud of me. Miss you.
About the Author
PHOTO BY MARGIE FUSTON
Margie Fuston grew up in the woods of California, where she made up fantasy worlds that always involved unicorns. In college, she earned undergraduate degrees in business and literature and a master’s in creative writing. Now she’s back in the woods and spends all her time wrangling a herd of cats and helping her nephews hunt ghosts, pond monsters, and mermaids.
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MARGARET K. McELDERRY BOOKS
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Text © 2021 by Margie Fuston
Jacket illustration © 2021 by Jeff Östberg
Jacket design by Sonia Chaghatzbanian © 2021 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.
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CIP data for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 9781534474574
ISBN 9781534474598 (ebook)
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