Cynthia Kadohata - The Thing About Luck

Two harvesters were of incalculable help: Wendy and Taff Hughes, including their kids Shiani, Mikey, and Zeb, as well as all of Hughes Custom Harvesting, who let me visit with them in Kansas; showed me around Childress, Texas; annnnnd let me badger them constantly—talk about generous! Jenna Zeorian of Zeorian Harvesting spoke with me, patiently answered numerous e-mails, and read the manuscript multiple times. Are all harvesters this wonderful?

I’d also like to express appreciation for others who helped me with the research for this book. In alphabetical order: Dr. Lisa Blum, child psychologist; mosquito expert Richard Lampman, PhD, Entomology; Irish combine driver Rob Langley; Reiko Lee, who read the whole manuscript to check my Japanese; Yuki Nyhan, who also helped with the Japanese; Cyrene Puccio, who once caught malaria and who shared her experiences with me; Keith Sharpe, who, like Rob, checked the Irish idioms; and Japanese speaker Asako Suzuki.

—C. K.

CYNTHIA KADOHATA actually rode a 30,000-pound combine to write this novel. She is the author of the Newbery Medal—winning Kira-Kira ; Cracker!: The Best Dog in Vietnam ; Weedflower , which won the 2007 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children’s Literature and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award for Older Children; Outside Beauty ; A Million Shades of Gray ; and several critically acclaimed adult novels, including The Floating World . She lives with her son and two dogs in Covina, California.