The Heart Is Not a Size (18 page)

Authors: Beth Kephart

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #People & Places, #United States, #Hispanic & Latino, #Social Issues, #Friendship, #New Experience

BOOK: The Heart Is Not a Size

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I took a camera to Juárez and published two photo-essays in the
Pennsylvania Gazette
and
Haverford
; thank you to editors John Prendergast and Chris Mills, respectively. I had an idea for a novel—a vaguely articulated one—and Laura Geringer was kind enough to place her faith in the inchoative. Jill Santopolo brought her insight, humor, intelligence, and commitment to the final drafts; she brought her cherished friendship. Carla Weise stayed the cover design course, as she always brilliantly does. Ruta Rimas, always the glue on the Harper team, stepped in as my editor as the book began to make its way into the world; she has enthusiasm and she has passion—just what this writer needs. Renée
Cafiero made this a better book; she always does. Laura Kaplan sent out word. My thanks to Amy Rennert, who picks up the phone when I call and tells me the truth; we need truth tellers as our friends and agents.

To the people of Juárez, who have in the years since I journeyed there been faced with horrific, rising violence and terrifying challenges, I express my great thanks for their hospitality and my deepest hope for healing.

I am grateful, finally, to Kenneth Kane, a rising, bighearted writer with whom I shared treasured conversations about words, books, and the great poet Jack Gilbert.

About the Author

Beth Kephart
was nominated for the National Book Award for her memoir
A SLANT OF SUN
. Her first novel for teens,
UNDERCOVER
, received four starred reviews and was named a Best Book by
Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal
, and Amazon.com, in addition to receiving many other honors and awards. Her second book for teens,
HOUSE OF DANCE
, received two starred reviews and was named a Best Book of the Year by
Kirkus Reviews
as well. In 2005 Beth was awarded the Speakeasy Poetry Prize. She has also written
INTO THE TANGLE OF FRIENDSHIP, STILL LOVE IN STRANGE PLACES, GHOSTS IN THE GARDEN, FLOW, ZENOBIA
, and
NOTHING BUT GHOSTS
. She lives in Pennsylvania with her family. You can visit her online at www.beth-kephart.blogspot.com.

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A
LSO BY
B
ETH
K
EPHART

Undercover

House of Dance

Nothing but Ghosts

Credits

Jacket design by Carla Weise

The poem discussed in Part One at Chapter 8, “Laundry,” is an original poem by Beth Kephart. The article quoted in Part One at Chapter 9, “The World Hands Project: Anapra, Mexico” by J. Matthew Thomas, is from
Forward
, a journal of the National Associates Committee of the American Institute of Architects, Fall 2008. http://info.aia.org/nwsltr_nacq.cfm?pagename=nacq_a_060112_ special_topic_thomas. The lines in Part Two at Chapter 1 and Chapter 9 are from “Tear It Down” by Jack Gilbert, which appeared in
The Great Fires: Poems, 1982–1992
by Jack Gilbert, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 1994. The lines in Part Two at Chapter Ten are from “A Brief for the Defense” by Jack Gilbert, which appeared in
Refusing Heaven: Poems
by Jack Gilbert, published by Alfred A. Knopf, 2005.

THE HEART IS NOT A SIZE
. Copyright © 2010 by Beth Kephart. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Kephart, Beth.

The heart is not a size / Beth Kephart.—1st ed.

p. cm.—(Harperteen)

Summary: Fifteen-year-old Georgia learns a great deal about herself and her troubled best friend, Riley, when they become part of a group of suburban Pennsylvania teenagers who go to Anapra, a squatters’ village in the border town of Juárez, Mexico, to undertake a community construction project.

ISBN 978-0-06-147048-6 (trade bdg.)

[1. Self-perception—Fiction. 2. Best friends—Fiction. 3. Friendship—Fiction. 4. Voluntarism—Fiction. 5. Poverty—Fiction. 6. Conduct of life—Fiction. 7. Ciudad Juárez (Mexico)—Fiction. 8. Mexico—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.K438He 2010 2008055721

[Fic]—dc22 CIP

EPub Edition © January 2010 ISBN: 978-0-06-199195-0

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