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Authors: Crissa-Jean Chappell

I don't wanna be a number

I just wanna stay free

â“Numbers,” the Adicts

Mad props

M
y agent, Kate Lee, for understanding the kind of story I wanted to tell and keeping it real.

My editors, Julie Lansky and Katherine Tegen, whose suggestions were always on the mark. This book would not exist without you.

I'm grateful to the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Rutgers One on One Council, and SCBWI for showing me the way.

Joy Bagley, Ben Barnes, Patricia Dolan, John Maass, Bill Rothman, Evelyn Mayerson, May-Lin Svantesen, and Joyce Sweeney, who put up with the pages in their mailboxes and encouraged me from the start. Also thanks to my rock star students, Dr. Aaron Gleason for the psychological insight, Adrian Michna and Secret Frequency Crew for the soundtrack, and Harlan Erskine,
for always listening.

And to my wonderful, crazy family, especially Jonathan Chappell (“knowledge is a tree”); my father, Raymond, who read to me; and my mother, Joann, who believed in invisible friends.

About the Author

CRISSA-JEAN CHAPPELL
's reviews, short stories, and poems have appeared in many magazines. A professor of creative writing. she lives in Miami, Florida, where she often looks for manatees. This is her first novel. You can visit her online at www.crissajeanchappell.com.

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Credits

Jacket art Â© James Connelly/CORBIS

Jacket design by Jennifer Heuer

Copyright

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. Copyright Â© 2007 by Crissa-Jean Chappell. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, 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 hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

EPub Â© Edition JANUARY 2009 ISBN: 9780061972119

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