A Song to Take the World Apart (34 page)

T
HANK YOU:

Logan Garrison, who plucked me from the slush pile.

Katherine Harrison, who saw this book in the draft we sent her.

For too many things over too many years to even begin to name: Abram, Alex, Alex, Alex, Amanda, Charlie, Chrissie, Emma, Gina, Henry, Julia, Logan, Lydia, Mia, Nozlee, Sparrow, Tori, Verity, Zoey.

Thank you especially to Gina Delvac, for naming this and every band, and to Andrea Schlosser, who translated all of the German so that I could get a feel for what Lorelei was reading in the letters.

Miranda: f'evz and always my first reader, my very favorite, and my best friend.

For being my extended family, to the communities of the chavurah and the Rosspack. (That's Allison, Alysha, Annie, Becky, Jen, Kate, Raphaela, Sami, and Shira, plus Celo, Gregor, Jarren, Jay, Magpie, Rachel, Sam, Sharifa, Tallevi, Terk, Terri, Thom, Trower…and Al.)

For giving me all the time I needed, thank you so much, Ayana, and all of the East Side Jews.

To everyone who taught me how to write, but especially Temple Israel Day School, Jeremy Michaelson, Margaret Wappler, and Adam Cushman. (Extra thanks to the Thursday-night Writing Workshop Los Angeles crew, who read the first draft five messy pages at a time.)

To Rachel Fershleiser, who got excited about a Tumblr post about this book when it was still—and seemed like it might always be—just a Word document in search of an agent.

To my very tall family, for supporting me in my work, and working so deliberately on making your own. Everything I could possibly say about you sounds sentimental and stupid, which is to say: you are too good for words.

Finally, to everyone who ever read something I had written on the internet and asked if I was going to write a book someday—truly, this one is for you.