Acknowledgments
Klepto
began in 1998 as a one-woman show called
Good-night, Diary
. It was based on the diary I kept during my teenage years. After many staged readings and workshop productions, the consistent feedback I got was, “This might make a good teen book.” But I didn’t know how to turn theater into young-adult fiction. I am indebted to so many people who helped me with that conversion process: Daniel Judah Sklar, Elizabeth Law, Victoria Labalme, Nadette Staša, Kevin Mandel, and Victor Warren were the most influential in those early days. I am grateful to Annette Cunningham for “funding” our Friday artist workshops in the summer of 2000, during which both of us banged away on our keyboards, let the creative juices flow, and tried very hard not to answer the phone.
Throughout my high school years and countless sleepovers and hours spent at my best friend’s house, I was awed and fascinated by her myriad family members and their boyfriends, girlfriends, and spouses. I remember thinking,
Someday I’m going to write about this.
For those years and all the juice, spice, and wisdom given to me by the Kravats, Buschmans, and Zinkers, I am profoundly grateful—especially to Annie, my second mom, and to Jenny, of course. Everyone should have a best friend like Jenny.
To Joan, Dan, and Susan Pollack, thank you for providing so much good material and for loving me and being proud of me. Thank you to the Kners, Nina Rowe, Regina Sheer, and Huck Hirsch, all of whom changed the course of my childhood. I am grateful to the Performing Arts’ Drama Department Class of 1985 students and teachers—you know who you are even though I have changed your names in this book.
To Jennifer Belle for her excellent feedback and support and her fantastic workshop, including Colleen Cruz, Scott Jones, Elin Lake Ewald, Leslie Ross, David Zaring, Brenna Tinkel, Robin Swid, and Sarah Bennett, thank you.
Thank you to my husband, Rob Handelman, for his willingness to read anything I write, talk endlessly about my process, give me the guy’s-eye view, and take Charlie away when necessary.
Many thanks to my agent, Merrilee Heifetz, for reading my book in one day and cheering me on immediately.
Finally, I am not only grateful to Joy Peskin, a first-time novelist’s dream of an editor, but I am also moved by her endless enthusiasm for this book. From our writing sessions in Prospect Park to pretzels and Pirate’s Booty on her living-room floor, I will always treasure her keen editorial eye, her sense of humor, and that simply, she “got” me.