Between the lines

‘Victory!’ he cried.”

I am pretty sure that both Delilah and I see Edgar wink at us.

Gently, I close the book, imagining Frump yelling “Cut!” and everyone grinning and congratulating each other on a job well done.

“Funny,” she says, “that’s not quite how I remember the story.”

“Oh really?” I clasp my hands behind her back and draw her closer. “How do you remember it?”

“Something like this,” Delilah says, and she reaches up on her tiptoes and kisses me.

She’s right. This is exactly the way the fairy tale was supposed to go. Except this time, when I glance up, I don’t see the words THE END written above my head.

I guess that’s because it’s just the beginning.

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Acknowledgments

Just like it takes a cast of characters behind the scenes to bring a fairy tale to life every time a reader opens a book, there are a vast number of people who helped us create our story as well. We’d like to thank all the people at Emily Bestler Books and Simon Pulse who got just as excited about Between the Lines as we were: Kate Cetrulo, Caroline Porter, Judith Curr, Carolyn Reidy, David Brown, Ariele Fredman, Mellony Torres, Jon Anderson, Bethany Buck, Mara Anastas, Michael Strother, Lucille Rettino, Sooji Kim, Carolyn Swerdloff, Dawn Ryan, Lauren Forte, Jessica Handelman, Mike Rosamilia, Russell Gordon, Julie Doebler, Paul Crichton, Nicole Russo, Michelle Fadlalla, Laura Antonacci, and Venessa Williams. Thanks also to Camille McDuffie and Kathleen Carter Zrelak for their assistance in spreading the word!

Special thanks go to Emily Bestler and Jen Klonsky, for helping us define our imaginary world better, and for agreeing when we wanted to create a final product that was a little “out of the box” for a normal YA novel. In this ever-changing world of electronic books, we wanted to create a story that was a keepsake-one you’d pass down to your children because of its beauty and design-much like the fairy tale in the story is to Delilah. Just like those gorgeous picture books from the turn of the century with colored plates by Arthur Rackham, we wanted a novel that took one’s breath away. Thanks to the spirited support of Emily and Jen, we got exactly that.

Which is why we also must thank Yvonne Gilbert, who brought our handsome prince to life, and Scott M. Fischer, whose silhouettes still astound us. Quite simply, you blew us away with your vision and your passion for this project.

Thanks, too, to Laura Gross, who encouraged us to take Sammy’s idea and run with it; and to Tim van Leer and Jane Picoult, who read the early drafts and laughed in all the right places.

Finally, thanks to all the readers of Jodi’s books, who have asked her for years for a story they could use to introduce her writing to their children-some of whom were too young to address the issues in her adult novels. We hope they enjoy sharing this with their kids as much as we enjoyed working together to create it.

Jodi Picoult, Samantha van Leer

JODI PICOULT is the author of nineteen novels, including the #1 New York Times bestsellers Lone Wolf, Sing You Home, House Rules, Handle with Care, Change of Heart, Nineteen Minutes, and My Sister’s Keeper. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and three children. Visit her website at jodipicoult.com.

SAMANTHA VAN LEER is a junior in high school. She conceived the idea for this book and pitched it to her mom, who was in the middle of a book tour. In her spare time, Samantha can be found playing softball, doing contemporary dance, acting and singing in musicals, and cuddling on the ground with her three dogs, Dudley, Alvin, and Oliver (for whom the prince in this fairy tale was named).

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