Finding Jupiter, page 23
As readers, we enjoy the thrill of losing ourselves and finding ourselves within the pages of books where the main characters may be animals, monsters, aliens, magical beings, or humans from cultures other than our own. What a treat to read a story where the hero and the villain feel like home! No matter where you’re from, dear reader, I hope that some part of Finding Jupiter felt like home. I hope that you’re inspired to find poetry wherever there are words and that the writers among you have been inspired to write stories that feel like home to you.
QUOTATION SOURCES
“I was complete…”: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby, 131.
“Who are you”: Fitzgerald, 134.
“She insisted…”: Fitzgerald, 136.
“His memory made…”: Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God, 184.
“Where you touch…”: Fitzgerald, 37.
“I love her…”: Jackson R. Bryer and Cathy W. Barks, eds., Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, 8.
“Had I run him…”: Hurston, 182.
“Fooled around outside…”: Hurston, 169.
“So he waited…”: Fitzgerald, 111.
“In the dark…”: Hurston, 99.
“Convenience? Love?”: Hurston, 101.
“don’t feel…”: Hurston, 183.
“The boy was…”: Hurston, 177.
“This heart in…”: Richard Wright, Black Boy, 142–143.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bryer, Jackson R., and Cathy W. Barks, eds. Dear Scott, Dearest Zelda: The Love Letters of F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2002.
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner Classics, 1986 (Original work published 1925).
Hurston, Zora Neale. Their Eyes Were Watching God. New York: Harper & Row, 1990 (Original work published 1937).
Wright, Richard. Black Boy. New York: HarperCollins, 1989 (Original work published 1945).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Adriane and Terri, my blood sister and my chosen sister, thank you for big, deep love and the constant reminders that it was time for me to write a book—any book—and the subsequent, exacerbated queries as to when said book would be written. Yolanda King, my Austin person, you said, “I’m going to write a book.” Then you did it repeatedly. You are my forever inspiration. J. Elle, you saw something in my quiet love story among hundreds of YA fantasy manuscripts during Pitch Wars 2019. To say thank you is an understatement. My dear friend, you changed my life.
Chelsea Eberly, my extraordinary agent. You are brilliant and I’m so happy to be on this destined journey with you. To my editor, Phoebe Yeh, I bow down to you. From our first conversation, we were like old friends. I knew that our partnership would be a breeze. You’re so sharp, kind, and generous, and an amazing editor. Please acquire all my future books for Random House and just never leave me. Elizabeth Stranahan, you are so clutch and part of the best editing team I could ever wish for. To my visuals Dream Team, cover designer Ray Shappell and artists Delmaine Donson and Bex Glendining, *chef’s kiss*. To Gráinne Clear and the entire team at Walker Books UK, thank you for an amazing world debut experience! Film agents Dana Spector and Berni Barta, thank you for making it fun for me to dream bigger.
Karen Valby, you magical earthling. You were the first friend to read my book and your response was like calcium to her bones. Thank you forever. Kay, Angela, and Kaila, thank you for listening to me dream this book up during the months and years our boys played on the playground! Tyrese and Mischia, our lunches gave me fuel and momentum. Karmon and Aziza, I’m so thankful our life paths have joined. Your love, friendship, and encouragement on this leg of my journey means the world. To the best neighbor, Lisa, you brought Jupiter and Fred into my life right when I needed signs. Fred Campos, thank you for kindly nodding at my questions about constellations and planets and listening to my theories about life and stars. Dr. Tracy Asamoah, your friendship and expertise as a child psychiatrist are precious things to me on this journey. My dear nanny, Ka’lia, you are my life jacket. Thank you.
Summer, my best friend, thank you for listening to every detail about this entire journey in real time, for being with me during life’s big things and for always holding me up and holding me down. Life is a funny thing, girl. Momma, my favorite person and my biggest cheerleader. Thank you for your unconditional love and for instantly and enthusiastically supporting all my dreams. Billy, my husband, thank you for being my big teenaged love story and showing me that I deserve love. Zack, my son, you are the wind beneath my wings. Zāli, my daughter, you are the sun. Rodney, you respond to all my big announcements like they are a given. Your high expectations of me and the affirmations you’ve spoken to me our entire lives sustain me. My twin, I remind myself that we are made of the same stuff when I feel silly for dreaming big or dreaming at all. I keep going because you keep going. To my dad, aunts, uncles, cousins, and ancestors, thank you for shaping me into the person I am. Huge shout-out to my teen early reviewers—Azana, Riley, Ben, Zare, Zack, Avery, Gavin, Marlee, Reed, Nia, Matisyn, and Siena. To my Austin village of fantastic sister-moms (including you ladies who moved away), thank you for existing. Queen Squad, we out here!
Octavia Butler, I promise to always look to the stars. Toni Morrison, I promise to always make everybody Black.
Dahlia Gutierez
KELIS ROWE lives and writes out of her home in Austin, Texas, and spends her summers traveling with her husband and two young kids. During her past life as a market research analyst, Kelis kept her creative juices flowing as a blogger and YouTuber, which included a two-year stint as one of twenty national Clinique Beauty Brand Insiders and a brief assignment as an Austin Honeybee for the ’90s urban women’s fashion and entertainment magazine Honey.
Kelis grew up in Memphis, where she had her big love. She did not see herself or her big love reflected in the pages of a YA novel at the time, so she wrote Finding Jupiter to give young readers a story about Black teens falling in love.
KELISROWE.COM
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Kelis Rowe, Finding Jupiter
