Marianne knocked on Ms. James’s door.

“Yes?” she heard Ms. James say from inside.

“Happy end-of-the-year.” Marianne leaned against the doorframe.

“And happy graduation,” Ms. James replied, shutting her desk and fiddling with a few folders on its surface.

“You heard?”

Ms. James gave an affirmative “Mm-hmm.”

Marianne wondered how many students Ms. James had had over the years. Hundreds and hundreds. Thousands?

“I wanted to ask you about Francie,” Marianne said. She held up her now-tattered copy of A Tree Grows in Brooklyn.

“Oh, did you finish it?” Ms. James lowered herself into her swivel chair.

Marianne nodded. “I like how she sees the tree in the end of the book, which grew even though it was like a weed in the concrete at first?”

“Mm-hmm.” Ms. James smiled.

“And how at the same time, Francie also sees the little girl sitting on the fire escape. I’m guessing they’re supposed to be, like, symbols of one another or something like that? Am I using the wrong words, or…?”

Ms. James held up a hand to signal a pause. “Wait, wait, wait, this is a longer discussion. Come on in.”

Marianne walked through the door and into the classroom.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” Ms. James said.

“Okay.” Marianne placed the book on the desk and faced ahead.

“So tell me, Marianne. What did you think?”

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Connie Hsu, Megan Abbate, and Nicolás Ore-Giron for your masterful editing. All three of you were indispensable in sharpening and enlivening Marianne’s story. I cannot tell you how many times I read your insights and experienced both clarity and inspiration.

Kat Kopit, Claire Maby, Andrea Monagle, and Kathy Wielgosz, thank you so much for all your hard work on perfecting the book. Thank you to Emmy Lupin and Liz Dresner for creating a dynamite cover. To the entire team at Roaring Brook … thank you. I am eternally grateful.

I offer my overwhelming gratitude to my agent, Melissa Edwards, who consistently provides support, wisdom, savvy, and humor. Melissa, I couldn’t ask for a better teammate.

I am indebted to Sarah Kim for sharing her sensitive and incisive thoughts with me and helping me in my attempt to illuminate Dan’s reality. Thank you so much, Sarah, for your time and guidance.

And thank you to Sarah Kate Sligh for helping me envision Dan’s life more fully. I encourage readers to check out Sarah’s YouTube channel to learn more about life as a young person with cerebral palsy: youtube.com/sarahkatesligh.

Thank you to educators Edward Powers and Donna Vaupel for allowing me to pick your brains about the world of trivia competitions. Your generosity with your time helped me immeasurably in breathing life into this story, and in appreciating the beauty of a bunch of kids getting together to share knowledge.

Thank you to Kelly Granito and Steven Lopez for offering your insights on the art of teaching. Your students, past and present, are lucky to have such thoughtful and empathetic educators. You both epitomize the oft-repeated truth that the craft of teaching is a constant exercise in learning.