This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

Copyright © 2025 by Eliot Schrefer

Illustrations copyright © 2025 by Kat Fajardo

Excerpt from Ayana Ndoum Takes the Stage copyright © 2025 by Kekla Magoon

Cover art color and interior shading © 2025 by Pablo A. Castro.

Kraft paper texture copyright © 2025 by klyaksun/Shutterstock.

Interior design: Neil Swaab

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Cover design: Elena Aguirre Uranga

Cover copyright © 2025 by Hachette Book Group, Inc.

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First Edition: March 2025

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBNs: 978-1-5235-3001-4 (hardcover) • 978-1-5235-3000-7 (paperback) • 978-1-5235-3002-1 (ebook)

E3-20250124-IH-NF-ORI

In memory of Mrs. Holtz,

my Mrs. Z