In 2017, ‘Oumuamua (Hawaiian for “a messenger from afar arriving first”), the first object from another star, was observed. It was shaped unlike anything seen before in space, ten times as long as it was wide (think of a pencil shape half a mile long and wider than a house!), with an orbit that was not bound by the sun’s gravity. It was thought to be traveling through the Milky Way for hundreds of millions of years before it came into view. It didn’t collide with Earth and was only visible for a short time before it continued on its journey.

In 2019, 21/Borisov, the first interstellar comet, arced across our solar system. Scientists think it may have originated around a red dwarf star, a much smaller and dimmer star than our sun.

Neither ‘Oumuamua nor 21/Borisov came close to Earth, but it raises the possibility that a piece of another star system could one day make its way here.

Does dowsing really work?

Where I live, out in the country in Maine, many homes don’t have access to a public water supply. Many of us have to develop our own water system. Some people get a backhoe operator to dig them a shallow well. Other people hire a drilling rig like Henry’s father’s to bore deep into hard granite to reach water from an aquifer.

When you don’t have water, one of the things you do is spend a lot of time thinking about how to get it. Over the years, our dug well often went dry in late summer, and my family had to haul water from a nearby spring for two grown-ups, two children, two horses, and a pony! And horses drink five to twenty times more water in a day than people do.

When a dowser finally dowsed us a new deep well, we didn’t hit a gusher, but luckily our well has never run dry.

Are you a dowser? Or do you have another gift? You’ll never know until you try to use it, so I hope you do!

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

With gratitude to Steven Chudney, who is 100 percent the best agent. Thank you for all you’ve taught me and for your dedication.

It’s a dream come true working with editor Phoebe Yeh. From our first conversation, I was so excited by your vision for the book. Thank you for encouraging me to dig deeper and for knowing just what was needed.

With deep appreciation to the rest of the team at Crown Books for Young Readers who helped bring this book into the world, Elizabeth Stranahan and Melinda Ackell, and to Robert Frank Hunter and Katrina Damkoehler for the gorgeous cover and beautifully inspired book design.

To Dr. Denton S. Ebel, curator (meteorites), American Museum of Natural History, New York—thank you so much for sharing your knowledge about meteorites and space.