Bolt squatted on the ice next to the fallen girl, his warm, cold-impervious hands holding her nearly frozen fingers.
“Bolt, I found you,” said Annika, her voice a whisper, a small but desperate smile on her ashen face as she closed her eyes and lost consciousness.
TO BE CONTINUED . . .
Acknowledgments
This book went through a long, winding, and curious path. As a result, the number of people who should be acknowledged is lengthy, and many of them are likely to be forgotten here. So if I’ve forgotten you, please don’t take it personally. My memory isn’t what it used to licorice sticks. Wait. Was I writing about licorice sticks? I seem to have forgotten.
Oh, right. Acknowledgments. I should have peeked at the heading of this section. First, I need to thank Kendra Levin. Kendra brought this book to life with a passion and eagerness that rivaled my own. Her vision helped shape its current form, a much better form than I could muster on my own, and for that I will always be grateful.
Hannah Mann and Joanna Volpe each played important yet separate roles in this book being what it is today. Thank you for your tireless efforts and assistance, support, and guidance.
This labor of love, heavy on the labor, took the efforts of many talented people. Thank you to illustrator Scott Brown, whose remarkable illustrations far exceeded my expectations; Laura Stiers and Janet Pascal, whose tandem copyediting played a bigger role than I’ll ever admit in public; plus designer Kate Renner, Maggie Rosenthal, and the entire team at Viking.
Many people have commented, read, and helped me during the numerous incarnations of this book, and in many different ways. Some of them have given their time and energy to multiple revisions, others have touched only one, and I have kept poor notes on who gave what advice, and when, but each of these people have played valuable roles during the writing of this book: Kym Brunner, Katie Sparks, Veronica Rundell, Cherie Colyer, and Suzanne Slade. They are not in any particular order, just the order I typed them in.
When a book takes a long time to complete, and I know I sound like a broken record harping on the long time it took to finish this, to finish this, to finish this (that’s a record skipping joke, which I know is a bit dated), it takes a great deal of patience and understanding from loved ones, so thank you to Lauren, Madelyn, and Emmy. As always, you each have my love and gratitude, which I don’t express often enough.
All writers borrow or steal from lots of sources. Hopefully we hide those borrowings well. But still, I’d like to thank some artists whom I have never met, nor likely ever will (as some are deceased and others are beyond my reach), but whose works inspired me while writing this book. I’ll use initials to create an air of mystery about these people, because it’s always fun to add airs of mystery when you can, which is why I sometimes go grocery shopping in disguise: B.S., A.D., R.D, W.G., R.R., C.D., and M.B. Also F.D. and W.S., sort of.
About the Author
Allan Woodrow is the author of many books including The Pet War, Class Dismissed, Unschooled, Field Tripped, and now, inspired by Dracula, old werewolf movies, Young Frankenstein, and an odd affection for fish sticks, The Curse of the Werepenguin. When Allan isn't writing, or noshing on breading-coated seafood, he's often presenting to schools, libraries, and conferences. You can learn more about Allan at allanwoodrow.com
Scott has produced work for television commercials, magazines, toys and comics. He spends his free time at his drafting board working on creations of his own. Originally from the seaport of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Scott currently resides on the South-west gulf coast of Florida (he can't stand living too far from the ocean) with his wife, two daughters and a rather affable pug named Linus Van Pelt.
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