Toy Dance Party: being the further adventures of a bossy-boots stingray, a courageous buffalo, and a hopeful round someone called Plastic

Acknowledgments

Thank you, first, to all the children who wrote to me asking for a sequel to Toys Go Out, many of you sending paintings and drawings of the characters. I have loved getting your mail, and it inspired me as I worked on Toy Dance Party.

Thank you to Ivy for listening to lots of early drafts, inviting me to spontaneous dance parties, and giving me the idea of naming a rubber shark after a princess. Thanks to Daniel for asking if the washing machine talked, back when I was writing the first book—and for the rubber shark itself. And for being so patient when I had to write on our long-awaited vacation.

Griffin was the first person to shove garbage into our rubber shark, and I appreciate his ingenuity. Errolyn allowed her toy buffalo to be photographed for my school visits, and Heather took the picture. John and Maureen, my writing companions, helped me think of disgusting ingredients for pink milk. Scott was not there on the pink milk day, but he kept me on track by writing next to me as well, while Libba did the same during final revisions.

My debt and admiration to the incomparable Paul O. Zelinsky for his art, advice, and enthusiasm. And for naming Spark, after I came up with DaisySparkle.

Enormous gratitude to Anne Schwartz for saying she’d publish a sequel if I wrote one, for editing me with a keen eye, and for waiting very patiently for me to be done with other stuff. I couldn’t ask for better publishers than Anne and Lee Wade. Thanks also to Annie Kelly, Rachael Cole, Emily Seife, Adrienne Weintraub, Chip Gibson, Lisa Nadel, Lisa McClatchy, and Kathleen Grigo—plus everyone else who has worked so hard on my books at Random House.