Highly Illogical Behavior (20 page)

I owe a completely logical amount of gratitude to the many people who had to deal with me as I wrote this book.

Chief among those is Namrata Tripathi, my editor, who always asks why and never lets me get away with not having an answer. Ever. Nami's ability to crack open my skull and extract cohesive narratives is astounding and I'm very lucky to work with her.

Then there's Stephen Barr, my agent, whose insightfulness and kindness can only be measured in tacos. Stephen is the real deal—an agent who always answers phone calls and never minces words. Again, I'm a lucky guy.

I'd also like to say a huge THANKS to everyone at Dial Books and Penguin Random House for welcoming me with such open arms.

And it's very true that I'd be nowhere without libraries, so I want to say a special thanks to all those librarians out there who spend their days putting books in kids' hands. And to all those booksellers who take the special time to match the right book to the right reader.

And finally, a huge thanks to my family and friends. I'm lucky enough to say that there are too many of you to name here, but you know who you are and what you mean to me. I have a very cool job, but it requires lots of inspiration and real-life material. You all give me that. I can't thank you enough.

John Corey Whaley grew up in Louisiana and now lives in Southern California. His first novel,
Where Things Come Back
, was the winner of the 2012 Printz Award and the 2012 Morris Award. His second novel,
Noggin
, was a 2014 National Book Award finalist.

Learn more about John Corey Whaley at
Johncoreywhaley.com

or follow him on Twitter
@corey_whaley

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