The Great Peach Experiment 1, Erin Downing [books to read romance .TXT] 📗

really only spend time on the main floor these days. And the dogs will have to stay put. My new apartment doesn’t allow animals, and these hairy little wig-stealing beasts need more entertainment and attention than this old lady can provide.

But after reading all the postcards you sent during your family’s great summer adventure, I think you’re up to the task and the challenge. Please come by the house to talk further about the next Great Peach Experiment just as soon as you’ve unpacked from your travels….

Much love, Your

Great Aunt Lucinda

AUTHOR’S NOTE

Please be aware that I took significant liberties with the actual laws, permits, regulations, and day-to-day operations of a food truck. Of course, I did extensive research into this type of business venture and used real laws to help guide my writing, but I also chose to ignore or change some of the information I found. For the sake of a fun story, I made a lot of things up (and exaggerated or ignored some facts) along the way.

If you ever consider starting up a food truck, please do more research and planning than the Peach family did. This book is a work of fiction, and in the real world, this business would have taken much longer to get off the ground, and a start-up like this likely would have fared much, much worse in real life.

The best part of writing fiction is, you get to make stuff up. So I did just that. And I certainly hope you enjoyed the adventure.

Writing a great book, like many of life’s best adventures, requires the assistance, company, and support of many other people. The first draft of this story came together really quickly, but the revisions and recipe refinement for the Peach family’s adventures took years. My editor (and great friend!) Bethany Buck deserves a lifetime supply of perfect pie for her spot-on advice, encouragement, and editorial direction for this story.

My agent, Michael Bourret, has been with me for the long haul on this publishing journey, and always keeps me from taking a wrong turn, even when the going gets rough and I’ve clearly lost my way.

My family—Greg, Milla, Henry, Ruby, and my snuggly pup, Wally—inspired many of the events and adventures in this story and make life perfectly peachy every single day. My talented son, Henry, drew all of Freddy’s art for this book, Ruby helped me write Lucy’s letters, and all three of my kids came up with the unique Blues Festival beards and helped me develop many of the best plot twists in the story. Your creativity and cleverness astound me, kids; may the three of you always be so funny and cheerful and clever.

My mom—Barb Soderberg—read at least twenty drafts of this story and helped out in some way at every stage. My dad—Kurt Soderberg—helpfully read a few drafts, too, and pointed out some of the things that were too weird, even for him (truth be told, there’s not much that’s too weird or quirky for me and my dad!).

I couldn’t survive this sometimes-lonely job without my crew of writer friends—Cathy Clark, Anica Rissi, Robin Wasserman, Laura Zimmermann, my fellow Renegades of Middle Grade, and many others—who read drafts, brainstorm, commiserate, and cheer me on.

A few real-world places and people unknowingly helped out with this story, and I’d like to say thanks: to Mike Lowery (whose magnificent and fun random facts books helped inspire that slice of Freddy’s character); to the real-world Betty’s Pies and my late Grandma Wilma (for making me a pie-lover); to the Sasquatch Food Truck (for letting me roam around and investigate your truck, as well as for answering a bunch of food truck–operating questions while you whipped up my yummy order).

Many teacher friends have supported and encouraged me over the years by sharing my books with their students, inviting me for school visits, and passing along tons of recommendations for books I would enjoy reading—Melissa, Lesley, Kristen, Jason, Michele, Julie, Sandy, Kurt, Carrie, Beth, Pam, Jennifer, Niki, Laura, John, Susan, Franki, Katie, and so many more. I can’t possibly thank you all individually—and I know some of you don’t like to be mentioned by name in the back of a book—so just know that I’m thinking of you, too! I do, however, want to express special recognition to the four teachers who invited me into their classrooms as part of the #KidsNeedMentors program the past few years. So, thanks to Tracey Maniotis, Kristen Loiacono, Leigh Ann Salas, and Vi Figueroa for the friendship and writing connection with your bright and inquisitive students. Also, a shout-out to my teacher friend Patrick Andrus, who has brought me into his classroom every year for his breakfast book club and has shared and discussed early drafts of many of my novels with his students.

Huge thanks to my publishing partners at Pixel+Ink —including brilliant copyeditor Susan Wilkins, Raina Putter, Lisa Lee, Terry Borzumato-Greenberg, Michelle Montague, Cheryl Lew, Nicole Benevento, Emily Mannon, Miriam Miller, Julia Gallagher, Adrienne Vaughan, Derek Stordahl, Andy Ball, Hannah Fine, Jessica Dartnell, Alison Weiss, and Kyra Reppen. Also the Penguin Random House sales and distribution team. Finally, a word about this book’s talented designer, Michelle Cunningham: your design is like the ice cream on top of a warm slice of apple pie—you really took this book to the next level and made it shine. It’s been such a delight going on this journey with all of you, and I look forward to our next great adventure.