Acknowledgments
SuperAgent John: Thank you for being the first industry pro to believe in my writing. Thank you for continuing to believe in it through every spectacular faceplant, and thank you for aiming my fervent but scattered ambition in a focused direction. Who knew I had a middle grade book in me? You did. You’re smart like that.
Editor extraordinaire Alyssa: The kindest, most brilliant kindred-soul editor I could have hoped for. Thank you for shaving off the story’s rough edges and tightening up its saggy bits and guiding me through the publishing process with compassion, humor, and wisdom. Your insights made this book so much better, and I am deeply grateful.
Thank you to everyone at HarperCollins who saw the potential in this story and brought it from a draft on my laptop to vivid, breathing life. Thank you to Teo DuVall for a cover that fits the story so beautifully, and thank you to Erin Fitzsimmons for your design expertise in fitting all my silly little sound drawings into the text at just the right spots. Thank you to Jacqueline Hornberger, Veronica Ambrose, and Nicole Moreno for your eagle eyes in catching my typos and inconsistencies
To all the good souls who slogged through early drafts of this book and all the books I wrote before I wrote this one, who encouraged me and pulled me out of the doldrums and provided essential solidarity: Thank you. A special shout-out to Cara Olexa, Sid Birkett, Amy Bearce, Sara Bennett-Wealer, Bruce Hamren, Sarah Archer, Allison Haden, Jean Maskuli, Pat Pujolas, and Georgine Getty.
To my teachers, friends, and fellow parents who provided support, guidance, kindness, and much-needed camaraderie: Karen Anderson, Larissa Howell, Renee Jacobs, Jen Decker-Strainic, Katie Kovach, Sherrie Inness, and Amy Goff: Thank you for being there when I needed you, and thank you for everything you’ve given me.
To Mom and Pops, who have supported me through every hair color, questionable tattoo, and life stage: Thank you. It’s so good to know I always have a home to come home to.
To Matt, thank you for being the bestest co-parent possible to our wild child and our herd of disabled, disheveled, and discount-rack dogs. Nobody can make me laugh in the trenches of four-a.m. kitchen-floor poop cleanups like you can. I love you.
To my wild child, my inspiration: Thanks for letting me write down all the brand-new sentences that come out your mouth; thanks for bouncing off the walls of our house and my heart, drumming a beat everywhere you go; thank you for the songs you sing and the characters you draw and the love that fills you and the hope that drives you. Thank you for answering my questions about day-to-day middle school life and telling me what I’m getting right and being frank when I suck at stuff. Thank you, most of all, for being you out loud. I love and adore you beyond measure.
And finally, thank you to my dogs. Y’all are stinky punks who make a boat-load of messes on the daily, but I sure do love you.
About the Author
Photo by Max Sewall
JULES MACHIAS is an author, editor, artist, and athlete who loves dogs beyond all reason. Both Can Be True is inspired by their combined passions for rescuing animals and breaking down society’s gender norms to create a more inclusive world. Jules has worked at a veterinarian office, a construction company, a car-parts warehouse, and a middle school for kids with disabilities. They now own and operate an editing and proofreading business for clients in publishing and marketing. Jules lives in Cincinnati with their family and three rescue dogs: the world’s happiest pit bull, a sweet Chihuahua with congestive heart failure, and a paralyzed terrier with a whole lot of sass. To learn more about Jules and their dogs, visit www.jules-machias.com.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Copyright
Quill Tree Books is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.
BOTH CAN BE TRUE. Copyright © 2021 by Jules Machias. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2021 by Little Corvus
Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons
Library of Congress Control Number: 2021934341
Digital Edition JUNE 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-305391-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-305389-2
2122232425PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
About the Publisher
Australia
HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd.
Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street
Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia
www.harpercollins.com.au
Canada
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd
Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower
22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor
Toronto, Ontario, M5H 4E3
www.harpercollins.ca
India
HarperCollins India
A 75, Sector 57
Noida
Uttar Pradesh 201 301
www.harpercollins.co.in
New Zealand
HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand
Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive
Rosedale 0632
Auckland, New Zealand
www.harpercollins.co.nz
United Kingdom
HarperCollins Publishers Ltd.
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF, UK
www.harpercollins.co.uk
United States
HarperCollins Publishers Inc.
195 Broadway
New York, NY 10007
www.harpercollins.com
