During Tracy’s sabbatical, I worked with editor Leslie Budnick, whose friendly emails were always welcome and who left her unique mark on the story.
Assistant editor Benjamin Gartenberg was knowledgeable, insightful, and helpful from beginning to end. An essential member of the team.
I am delighted and honored to have Julie Morstad’s cover art. Special thanks to art director Marijka Kostiw and production editor Melissa Schirmer.
I am grateful to my sensitivity readers. Cherryl Toney Holley, the current chief of the Hassanamisco band of the Nipmuc Nation, who is also hearing impaired, provided key historical information. Penny Gamble-Williams of Wampanoag and African heritage is an activist involved in Native land, freedom of religion and sacred site issues, and Indigenous and environmental rights. She is a member of the Chappaquiddick Tribe of the Wampanoag Nation. Her generous, in-depth assistance and enthusiasm for the project was of inestimable help. I admire her work as an artist and the museum exhibits she has created. Tom L. Humphries is an American academic, author, and lecturer on Deaf culture and deaf communication; I appreciate his input.
Thanks to the Alachua County Library District. I’m grateful for all I’ve learned from my colleagues, with a focus on children’s literature and working with underserved communities. Special thanks to the following: Ross Woodbridge, Debbie Lewis, Sol Hirsch, Phillis Filer, Al Martin, Shannon Kitchen, Caryl McKellar, J. T. Whitfield, Jessica Jaegar, Sabrina Sturzenbecker, Tomiko Kutyna, Heather Sostrom, Jackie Seekamp, Lauren Brosnihan, Robert Fryling, Erin Phemester, Odette Hinson, Tina Bushnell, Kerry Dowd, Gabriela Sheremet, Emily Young, Linda Steffanelli, Bill Juniper, Jodie Patterson, Elaine Needelman, and Chris Culp.
Thanks to my friends in the School Board of Alachua County, Deaf/HOH specialist Tina Kercheval, ASL teacher Rachael LaCombe, and media specialists Bart Birdsall and Judith Weaver.
Special thanks to my sister-in-law, Katrina Goodrich. And to Alexis Redhorse Blendel and Sally Ford.
All gratitude and love to my sister, Jean Marie Le Zotte. She read and commented on every draft of this story, enriching it with her edits, questions, and comments. Her knowledge on many subjects, such as the will-o’-the-wisps legend and sailing ships, made her an endless resource. Her innate sympathy for how the world sometimes treats me because I’m Deaf carried me through the hardest rewrites. She is my magical witch, fellow writer, and family. Our little dog, Perkins, also makes life warmer and funnier.
I was lucky to have my parents, Bess George Le Zotte (1942–2004) and Edward Harrison Le Zotte (1935–2004). When you grow up ill and/or disabled, you need that person who sees you as whole and believes you can do anything. That was Dad.
And thanks to the cab driver who first told me about the island’s Deaf history when I was living on Cape Cod in the 1990s and made my first trip to Martha’s Vineyard!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ann Clare LeZotte is a Deaf libraran and the author of T4, an ILA Notable Book for a Global Society that Booklist called “a powerful debut.” For years, Ann has given book talks and disability and anti-bullying presentations in American Sign Language (ASL). “I never had a romance about being ‘special’ or ‘different,’” she says. “I wished long and hard to be normal, a waste of time and a heartbreak I don’t want other young people to experience.” In her free time, Ann enjoys swimming and walking her dog, Perkins. She lives with her family in Gainesville, Florida.
Copyright © 2020 by Ann Clare LeZotte
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While inspired by real events and historical characters, this is a work of fiction and does not claim to be historically accurate or portray factual events or relationships. Please keep in mind that references to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales may not be factually accurate, but rather fictionalized by the author.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, March 2020
Jacket illustration © 2020 by Julie Morstad
Jacket design by Marijka Kostiw
e-ISBN 978-1-338-25583-6
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