When I was twenty-five, I found out that I had a half brother, one of the best surprises of my life. While it was confusing and difficult at times, that meeting inspired this story. Special thanks to him for being part of my life (and giving me a beautiful nephew and niece).

Thank you to my dad, who gave me his well-loved copy of The Little Prince and has always known which way his compass points. And thank you to his wife for her help in tracking down the mythology of Indigenous Colombian cultures like the Arhuaco. Any errors in the storytelling or translations are mine alone.

This book is dedicated to my mom, who introduced me to the Hayley Mills version of The Parent Trap and who read aloud E. L. Konigsburg’s From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, both of which inspired Mattie and Mercedes’s adventure.

As always, I am indebted to my family. To Sylvia, who helped brainstorm plot points and picked out Mercedes’s outfits. To Dave, who supports me in all ways a writer needs to be supported.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Author photo © 2022 by Dave Dieken

ANIKA FAJARDO was born in Colombia and raised in Minnesota. She wrote a book about that experience, Magical Realism for Non-Believers: A Memoir of Finding Family, which was published by the University of Minnesota Press. Anika is the author of What If a Fish, which won a Minnesota Book Award and was a CCBC Choices 2021 selection. A writer, editor, and teacher, she lives in the very literary city of Minneapolis.

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What If a Fish