Part 33 (1/2)

* And Ellen Montgomery, the woman whose practice of using roof tiles as canvases I borrowed.

That list goes on and on too.

After all of that research, I felt as though I knew-as best I could-what it had been like during those harrowing days of the hurricane. I felt emotionally connected to the incredible people who had survived such a tragic disaster. And it was from this place that I wrote Another Kind of Hurricane. I hope Henry and Zavions story does justice to the resilient, beautiful people of New Orleans, but I recognize, after Tropical Storm Irene, that I cant ever know someone elses perspective exactly. What Ive come to realize is that striving for knowledge and empathy, while accepting that we might not be able to totally get it, is truly the best we can do.

There is magic within the pages of Another Kind of Hurricane: how one boy in Vermont and another boy in New Orleans can come together in such a strange and stunning way. And I wonder, now, if my experience with Tropical Storm Irene is a part of that magic. Regardless, it has become an accidental authors gift-a window into the truth of my characters lives. I am eternally grateful for that.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

A marble has magic when it is pa.s.sed back and forth. This is the truth. And this book pa.s.sed between the most amazing and generous hands, making extraordinary magic in the process.

My appreciation goes to Sarah Bertucci, Pat Bertucci, Leslie Helakoski, Alice Fothergill, Katie Speck, the volunteers at 911 Parrot Alert, Mark Waller, John McCusker, and Kenneth John Rayes, who kindly answered my questions about Hurricane Katrina. Thanks to Sarah DeBacher. Thanks to Laura Paul and the wonderful lowernine.org, and to Phil Bildner for leading me to them both.

Vital research materials informed this book, and I am grateful to their writers. Any logistical or factual errors are mine alone. Particularly significant were articles in the Times-Picayune, the book Unfathomable City: A New Orleans Atlas by Rebecca Solnit and Rebecca Snedeker, and the films Trouble the Water, produced and directed by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, and The Axe in the Attic, produced and directed by Ed Pincus and Lucia Small. Chris Roses 1 Dead in Attic: After Katrina was invaluable. Many details in my book were adapted from his experience. I thank Chris for his generosity.

Thanks to the wonderful people at Vermont College of Fine Arts, especially Sharon Darrow, Julie Larios, David Gifaldi, and Margaret Bechard. To Uma Krishnaswami and Kathi Appelt: Henry and Zavion wouldnt have their story without you.

To the Unreliable Narrators, who are anything but unreliable, you rock. To Kelly Bennett, Trinity Peac.o.c.k-Broyles, Erin Moulton, Kerry Castano, Katie Mather, Sarah Tomp, Cindy Faughnan, and Sharry Phelan Wright: An I couldnt have done this without you that stretches from Vermont to Louisiana.

In 2008, SCBWI awarded me a runner-up Work-in-Progress grant for this book and PEN New England gave me a runner-up Discovery Award. Thanks to both incredible organizations for believing in my work.