The Dirt Diary (16 page)

This is pretty much a list of the usual suspects, but I can never thank them enough.

First, a shout-out to NPR for broadcasting a story about teenage mortification that inspired this novel.

To my wonderful first reader/husband Ray Brierly.

To my amazingly supportive family.

To all my writer and non-writer friends, especially Megan Kudrolli, Heather Kelly, Sarah Chessman, and Alisa Libby.

To superstar editor Aubrey Poole and the team at Sourcebooks for allowing me—even
encouraging
me—to write wacky stories.

To fab agent Ammi-Joan Paquette for her willingness to go along with whatever my muse cooks up.

And to all of you out there who’ve confirmed my suspicions that middle school is just one big humiliation-fest.

Born in Poland and raised in the United States, Anna Staniszewski grew up loving stories in both Polish and English. After studying theater at Sarah Lawrence College, she attended the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons College. She was named the 2006–2007 Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the 2009 PEN New England Susan P. Bloom Discovery Award. Currently, Anna lives outside of Boston with her husband and their adorably crazy dog, Emma. When she’s not writing, Anna spends her time teaching, reading, and
not
cleaning her house. You can visit her at
www.annastan.com
.

More great reads by Anna Staniszewski:

My Very UnFairy Tale Life

My Epic Fairy Tale Fail

My Sort of Fairy Tale Ending

Read more of Rachel’s adventures in

The Prank List

Coming Spring 2014