Thank you to everyone at Wendy Lamb Books and Penguin Random House who helped bring Planet Earth Is Blue from a messy Word document to a real book, including designer Leslie Mechanic, cover artist Jungsuk Lee, reader Elena Meuse, and copy editors Barbara Perris, Colleen Fellingham, and Alison Kolani. For the use of lyrics from David Bowie’s song “Space Oddity,” thank you to Onward Music Ltd. in London and TRO Essex Music International, Inc., in New York.

I’m indebted to my early readers: Kathy Lundy, Lori Garrity, Amanda Pronovost, Jennifer John, Heather Craven, Alexa Dalpe, Steph Hebert, Amie Lynn Thompson, and Carolyn Hoye Hackett. I later turned the book over to tweens: Mackenzie Peloquin, Sophie Derman, and Meadow Sweet. Having them read Nova’s story for the first time was scary and exciting. Thank you to Beth Kirkonnell for helping with Buddy’s signs, and to my awesome PitchWars mentor, Ellie Terry, for helping me get Planet Earth Is Blue to a submission-worthy level. Through PitchWars, I was fortunate to connect with many incredible writers, including Cindy Baldwin, Amanda Rawson Hill, Helen Hoang, and Yael Mermelstein. Yael’s class was present in Florida for the Challenger launch and she saw the disaster firsthand; her feedback was invaluable.

I am also ever-grateful for my wonderful sensitivity readers who read for authenticity purposes, and thankful to those who work in the autism field and offered their feedback and guidance, including Connecticut-certified pre-K–12 special education teacher Kris Allard, who has been working with autistic students for twenty-five years, and board-certified behavior analyst Dr. Bob Worsham, who supplied information about how kids on the spectrum were taught in public schools back in 1986. Lily Koblenz, MD, was also very helpful. Several of my draft readers also work in the field of special education or are on the autism spectrum themselves.

I’d have never dreamed of being an author if not for the fantabulous English/writing teachers I’ve had from grade six through grad school: Mr. Weigel, Mr. Moody, Ms. Waters, Ms. Karro-Gutierrez, Mr. Martin, Dr. Chibeau, Lisa Rowe Fraustino, Nancy Ruth Patterson, and Amanda Cockrell, et merci à professeur de français Madame Rose pour Le Petit Prince.

Last, I want to recognize and remember the seven astronauts on board the Challenger in 1986: Christa McAuliffe, Dr. Ronald E. McNair, Dr. Judith A. Resnik, Francis R. Scobee, Gregory Jarvis, Ellison S. Onizuka, and Mike J. Smith, plus Dr. Sally K. Ride, who became the first American woman in space aboard Challenger in 1983 and later investigated the disaster.

“Space is for everybody.”

—CHRISTA MCAULIFFE

About the Author

Nicole Panteleakos is a middle-grade author, playwright, and Ravenclaw whose plays have been performed at numerous theaters and schools in Connecticut and New York City. She earned her BA in theater scriptwriting from Eastern Connecticut State University and is working toward her MFA in children’s literature at Hollins University.