The entire team at Candlewick stepped up to make Starworld as magical as possible. Thank you all for believing in the book and giving us so many fantastic opportunities. Special thanks to Pam Consolazio for the gorgeous cover, Sherry Fatla for the thoughtfully designed interior, and Anna Gjesteby Abell and her team for the epic marketing plan. Thanks to Erin DeWitt, Maggie Deslaurier, Matt Seccombe, and Emily Quill for your careful eyes through the copyediting and proofreading process. Most of all, thank you, Kaylan, for being the most thorough and thoughtful editor, never one to shrink away from asking hard questions or working to make a book the best it can be. We were so lucky to have you as an editor and an advocate through the publication process of this book.

Our earliest readers did us a monumental favor by helping us make our first beta-ready draft stronger and more sensitive. Thank you, Katherine Locke and Marieke Nijkamp, for your care and insight, and Rafe Posey, for your thoughtful reads and help wrangling facts, places, and details. A special thank you also goes to Gabe Weiner, story oracle extraordinaire, for your brilliant feedback on an early draft of the novel — and for fielding countless questions about teens, high school, theater, and other subjects. And Mia Drelich always cheerfully responded to pleas for help with speedy answers and brilliant ideas. Much gratitude is owed to plot wizards Kali Wallace and Helen Wiley (who beta read twice!) for detailed critiques of later drafts. And Casi Clarkson, thank you for generously providing notes based on your long career working for the State of Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services.

In addition to the contributions of our beta readers, we are so grateful for the time and input we received from Dr. Barbara van Noppen, assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, assistant chair of education, and codirector of the OCD Treatment and Research Program at the Keck School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at the University of Southern California. Your expertise helped add so much nuance to Sam’s relationship with her mother, and your care for the people you work with came through in all you shared with us.

Finally, the sensitivity readers we worked with closer to publication made all the difference in helping us do the best work we could in thoughtfully portraying secondary characters with mental illness and disability. Any shortcomings or inaccuracies that still exist in the narrative are entirely our own. Thank you to Jacqueline Reineri (aka Claerie Kavanaugh), Gretchen Schreiber, and Erin Servais for your professionalism and thoroughness. You gave incredibly helpful feedback on tender subjects with grace and dedication.

As usual, a bottomless well of thanks is owed to our families for their support and company in times of both joy and stress. We couldn’t do what we do without you.

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