by Tom Birdseye
With a deep breath, he took the first step.…
Acknowledgments
I’ve told myself a billion times (almost) not to exaggerate, but it really does seem like it has taken me forever (almost) to finish this book. (I started it in 1988.)
It is truly not an exaggeration, however, to say that lots of people have helped me out along the way. What follows is a partial list, with sincere apologies to anyone whom, in the chaos of fifty-two rewrites—yes, fifty-two, really!—I may have left out:
Debbie, Kelsey, and Amy Birdseye; Jean Naggar; Regina Griffin; John and Kate Briggs; Margery Cuyler; Frances Kuffel; Ann Manheimer; Gary Hines; Anna Grossnickle Hines; Betsy Partridge; Martha Weston; Jane Yolen; Robert McKee; John Anderson; Kelly Monahan; Molly Switzer; John Otto; Susan Lowell; Ross Humphries; Jeremy Meyer; the Corvallis-Benton County Library; Anderson’s Sporting Goods; the Oregon Department of Employment; and Juan and Amadeus.
About the Author
As a kid, Tom Birdseye was decidedly uninterested in writing—or any academic aspect of school, for that matter—never imagining that he would eventually become a published author. And yet, nineteen titles later—novels, picture books, and nonfiction—that is exactly what has happened. His work has been recognized for its excellence by the International Reading Association, Children’s Book Council, National Council of Social Studies, Society of School Librarians International, Oregon Library Association, and Oregon Reading Association, among others. Combined, his books have either won or been finalists for state children’s choice awards forty-three times. Life, it seems, is full of who’d-a-thought-its. He lives and writes in Corvallis, Oregon, but launches mountaineering expeditions to his beloved Cascades on a regular basis.
All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2000 by Tom Birdseye
Cover design by Connie Gabbert
ISBN: 978-1-4976-4590-5
This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.
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New York, NY 10014
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