My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights (27 page)

But that won’t stop me from trying.

To Jackie—my best friend and wife: thank you for never giving up on me while I stumbled my way through my first draft. And the second. And third. Our “writing walks” were always amazing, and your suggestions were never taken lightly. There’s as much of you in this book as there is of me.

To my amazing supporters, critique partners, beta readers, and anyone who helped me better a word, sentence, or character—Jason Benjamin, Sasha Benjamin, Cristina Moreno, Dr. Wooten, Amber Mauldin, Jayme Woods, Jenna Lehne, Jessie Devine, Sean McConnell, Dayla F. M., Brenda Drake, Dannie Morin, Heidi Schulz, Melanie Conklin, Ronni Arno Blaisdell, Jean Giardina, Karen Lee Hallam, Jeff Chen, Gail Nall, Jen Malone, Marieke Nijkamp, Joy McCullough-Carranza, Brent Taylor, Patrice Caldwell, Genetta Adair, Taryn Albright, Juliana Brandt, Lauren Spieller, Brianna Shrum, Dave Connis, the Sweet Sixteens debut author group, the MG Beta Readers team, and the Middle Grade Minded team: thank you for cheering me on, letting me try out new steps with my stories, and never hesitating to tell me when they weren’t working.

To the Midsouth SCBWI—the folks who organize the events, the speakers who have given their time to it, and Gail for introducing me to literally every single person during my first conference: thank you for motivating me to stop standing in the wings and to take my manuscript out on the floor.

To Mom and Dad: thank you for always letting me be goofy and creative. I think you would’ve loved this story.

To LeeLoo: thank you for keeping the barking to a minimum during the edits.

To my fellow New Kidz: thank you for always showing up after school to practice. Even though we all chickened out and canceled our end-of-the-year show for the school, we still had fun trying to figure out how to spin on our heads.

To Kate Gartner and The Little Friends of Printmaking, JW and Melissa Buchanan: thank you for your incredible eye for artistic detail. I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect cover!

To Jen at
Pop! Goes the Reader:
thank you for giving my cover reveal a place to call home.

To Uwe Stender and the TriadaUS team: thank you for your undying enthusiasm and love for these characters. I never doubted that the Dizzee Freekz were safe in your hands.

To Wendy Loggia and the Delacorte Press team: thank you for your remarkable insight and guidance. You championed this story and helped me transform it into something better than I ever thought it could be.

And finally, to my readers: I hope you found a little of yourself in this book, too. Thank you for taking a chance on the Dizzee Freekz. You’re all honorary members for life.

In sixth grade, Brooks Benjamin formed a New Kids on the Block tribute dance crew called the New Kidz. He wasn’t that good at dancing back then. But now he’s got a new crew—his wife and their dog. They live in Tennessee, where he teaches reading and writing and occasionally busts out a few dance moves. He’s still not very good at it.

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