Paper Towns

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to thank:

— My parents, Sydney and Mike Green. I never thought I would say this, but: thank you for raising me in Florida.

— My brother and favorite collaborator, Hank Green.

— My mentor, Ilene Cooper.

— Everyone at Dutton, but particularly my incomparable editor, Julie Strauss-Gabel, Lisa Yoskowitz, Sarah Shumway, Stephanie Owens Lurie, Christian Fünfhausen, Rosanne Lauer, Irene Vandervoort, and Steve Meltzer.

— My delightfully tenacious agent, Jodi Reamer.

— The Nerdfighters, who have taught me so much about the meaning of awesome.

— My writing partners Emily Jenkins, Scott Westerfeld, Justine Larbalestier, and Maureen Johnson.

— Two particularly helpful books I read about disappearance while researching Paper Towns: William Dear’s The Dungeon Master and Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild. I am also grateful to Cecil Adams, the big brain behind “The Straight Dope,” whose short article on copyright traps is — so far as I know — the definitive resource on the subject.

— My grandparents: Henry and Billie Grace Goodrich, and William and Jo Green.

— Emily Johnson, whose readings of this book were invaluable; Joellen Hosler, the best therapist a writer could ask for; cousins-in-law Blake and Phyllis Johnson; Brian Lipson and Lis Rowinski at Endeavor; Katie Else; Emily Blejwas, who joined me on that trip to the paper town; Levin O’Connor, who taught me most of what I know about funny; Tobin Anderson and Sean, who took me urban exploring in Detroit; school librarian Susan Hunt and all those who risk their jobs to stand against censorship; Shannon James; Markus Zusak; John Mauldin and my wonderful parents-in-law, Connie and Marshall Urist.

— Sarah Urist Green, my first reader and first editor and best friend and favorite teammate.