Blue Birds (21 page)

I am indebted to all who have had a hand in the making of this book:

Michelle Humphrey showed me Kimi and Alis's friendship is the heart of this story. Thank you, Michelle, for helping me strip away what was unimportant and put my focus where it needed to be.

With her perfect combination of enthusiasm, knowledge, and support, Tracey Adams is exactly what I need in an agent. Here's to many years and many books together.

Stacey Barney's love for these girls was evident from the beginning and grew with each round of edits. Early on I asked her to push me hard to make this book shine, and she did just that. Stacey, I am so grateful for the privilege of working with you—an eight-years-in-the-making dream come true.

Kate Meltzer, Anne Heausler, Richard Amari, and the rest of the Penguin team contributed the behind-the-scenes touches that made this book just right. A special thank-you goes out to the folks in the school and library departments for their commitment to books like mine.

Anna and Elena Balbusso, I can't imagine a more beautiful cover. Thank you for bringing these girls to life through your artwork.

Reggie Brewer, Coordinator of Tribal Youth Programs and Cultural Enrichment for the Lumbee Tribe, and Steve Watts, Director of Aboriginal Studies at the Schiele Museum of Natural History in Gastonia, North Carolina, graciously read the manuscript for historical and cultural accuracy. Any errors that remain are mine alone.

Many thanks to Cultural Resources/Museum Manager Jamie Lanier, Geographic Information Systems Specialist Laura Pickens, and Park Ranger Rob Bolling at Fort Raleigh National Historic Site for answering my questions about the locations of the Roanoke and English villages.

Early feedback from friends and fellow writers Anna Ingwersen, Cynthia Leitich Smith Jamie C. Martin, Kimberley Griffiths Little, Carolee Dean, Lois Bradley, Marissa Burt, Terry Lynn Johnson, Bettina Restrepo, Kathryn Burak, Eve Marie Mont, J. Anderson Coats, Carole Estby Dagg, Jenny Ruden, Carrie Harris, and Natalie Bahm helped shape what this book has become.

My online critique partners, Valerie Geary and Kate Bassett, know this book almost as well as I do. The time and wisdom they have lavished on it—and me—are treasures indeed.

Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Uma Krishnaswami, Stephanie Farrow, and Katherine B. Hauth have taught me about quality work, commitment to craft, and devotion to one another. Thank you for inviting this fledgling author into your well-established writing community.

My friends at High Desert Church offered tremendous support as this story unfolded, as did my running partner, Beth Benham, who kindly listened in on the process during our weekly runs.

I'd like to think I've shared the smallest taste of Alis's experience during my year as an exchange student in Adelaide, South Australia. Much love to my sweet host family, the Mudges, who welcomed me as a daughter and sister.

I've thought often of Anna Ingwersen and Sergio Arias while writing about Kimi and Alis. These two filled my girlhood days with safe familiarity and endless creativity. Anna and Serg, thirty-plus years later, I'm proud to call you friends.

This book was a challenge on many levels, and I have drawn courage from my dear friend Jamie C. Martin, who reminded me that good work is often hard work. Thank you, Jamie, for everything.

My parents, Milt and Polly, and my sister, Chris, are pleased as punch to see me doing the very thing I set my heart on so many years ago. It's so good to have the three of you on my side.

Much love and gratitude goes to my husband, Dan, and our boys, Noah and Caleb, who make room for my head-in-the-clouds days, my fretting days, and those magical moments when everything comes together.

There are portions of history that are sad, inexplicable, even downright ugly. It was sometimes painful to study the events that happened at Roanoke so many years ago. Our world is a broken place, but I take great comfort in this promise: Someday God will redeem all things.

1
Elizabethan names were often spelled a variety of ways. Sir Walter used “Ralegh” most often in reference to himself.

2
Lee Miller,
Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony
(New York: Penguin, 2002).

3
John Lawson and William Byrd,
History of North Carolina
(Charlotte: Observer Printing House, 1903).

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