Sword and Verse (31 page)

This book has been a long time in the making, and there are so many people to thank that I will inevitably leave someone out. Still, I have to try.

Mountains of thanks go to my agent, Steven Malk, who kept believing even when I was a tortoise; to Lindsay Davis, who got this whole journey started; to Alexandra Cooper and Alyssa Miele and the whole team at HarperTeen for making Raisa's story something beautiful and tangible and out in the world; to my chief beta reader, Manuela Bernardi, whose insights never fail to astonish me; to my very first reader, Erin Harrison, who's been reading this story for over ten years now; to Elaine Benson, Kate Bradley-Ferrall, Kelley Finck, Helen Harrison, Megan Morrison, L. V. Pires, Laura Shovan, Diana Stevens, Patrick Stewart, Kali Wallace, Olivia Yancey, and probably about a million other people I am forgetting who have read various versions of this story and given feedback on it over the years; to Claire Jerram, Waldorf School of Baltimore class teacher, for lending lines from the beautiful ninth birthday verse she wrote for my son to Raisa's heart-verse; to Laiyonea Branch for letting me borrow her name; to Kristin Brown, photographer extraordinaire, and Megan Morrison,
Maureen Knight, Jennie Levine, and Lisa Campos, for always keeping the creative flames lit; to my fellow authors in the Sweet Sixteens for being amazing and supportive and awesome; to my parents, Dorothy and Frank Kelly, for their unyielding support; to all the librarians who have inspired me and believed in the right to access for everyone; and last but definitely not least, to Jimmy and JX, for always being there.

P
HOTO BY
K
RISTIN
B
ROWN

KATHY M
AC
MILLAN
has been a librarian, American Sign Language interpreter, children's performer, teacher, storyteller, and writer. Her previous work includes educator- and parent-resource books about promoting literacy through signing with all children.
Sword and Verse
was inspired by her research into ancient libraries and her interest in exploring the power of language. Kathy lives in Owings Mills, Maryland, with her husband and son. To learn more about Kathy, visit
www.kathymacmillan.com
.

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Cover art © 2016 by Colin Anderson

Cover design by Heather Daugherty

HarperTeen is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

SWORD AND VERSE
. Copyright © 2016 by Kathy MacMillan. 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.epicreads.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015943570

ISBN 978-0-06-232461-0

EPub Edition © December 2015 ISBN 9780062324634

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FIRST EDITION

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