Acknowledgments

Thanks to Rina and Angad Singh, Deena Sacks, Evadne Anderson and Claire Holden Rothman, all of whom read an early version of the story that eventually became Finding Elmo. Thanks to my dad Maximilien Polak for his careful reading of a later draft.

Thanks also to my friends in Australia, Vanessa Barratt and David Bock of the Australian Museum, and Trish Mooney of the Glossy Black-Cockatoo Recovery Program.

Thanks, as usual, to Viva Singer, who knows about everything, especially animals, and who always listened when I needed to talk about my story.

Special thanks to my husband Michael Shenker, for his love and support, and to my daughter, Alicia, who listens—and occasionally makes remarks—when I read my work out loud.

Finally, a big thank-you to the terrific team at Orca Book Publishers: publisher Bob Tyrrell who responded to an early version of this book; Andrew Wooldridge, who encouraged me to get back to it; Melanie Jeffs, whose careful, insightful editing helped me tell a better story; and Maureen Colgan, who gets me invited to all the good parties.