Acknowledgments

Thanks to Viva Singer, Claire Holden Rothman, Evadne Anderson and my mother, Celine Polak, for reading this manuscript in its earliest stages; to my students Lee Rovinescu and Anthony Bossy for the basketball lessons; to Rina Singh and Elaine Kalman Naves for their continuing encouragement; to Barbara Vininsky and my friends at the Jack and Jill Shop; to my editor, Andrew Wooldridge, for his good sense and sharp eye, and to the rest of the team at Orca. Finally, thanks to my daughter, Alicia Melamed, and my husband, Michael Shenker. Their humor and love make all things possible.