The Danger Box Read online

  Each word and phrase that Zoomy collects from his find can be seen in the real thing, which is in “Darwin Online” at EH1.17. It’s an amazing experience to look at page after page.

  Getting to know my subject happened while reading countless documents and excellent books, and if I have neglected to credit anyone appropriately, it is entirely due to the “sublime” (as Gas might have said) experience of plunging headlong into another world, and of creating the Danger Box that you now hold. A beetle or two may have gotten away from me, but not to my knowledge.

  THE LIST IS LONG, and lots of people helped me in many, many ways. Without their generosity and input, this book would not have evolved as it did. Thank you all, with all my heart. I’m sorry if I have forgotten anyone — this book was in the making for a number of years, and passed through many stages. Here are some of the people I owe:

  ~Joshua Patner, for the spark

  ~Barbara Engel, great friend times ten

  ~My husband, Bill, our three kids, and both sides of our big family, for everything

  ~Anne Troutman, for all we continue to share, both visible and not

  ~Doe Coover, terrific agent, observant reader, and valued friend

  ~My esteemed editor and buddy David Levithan, like Gas, a gentle and wise firecracker-maker

  ~Garry Lange, Liz Lange, and the many gifted teachers I met at the River Valley Schools

  ~John Gunner Gooch, for enthusiasm, fact-checking, and his inspiring South County Gazette articles

  ~Dr. Louise Sclafani, optometrist and professor at the University of Chicago, for helping me to glimpse Pathological Myopia

  ~Dr. Alison Winter, neighbor and professor of history at the University of Chicago, for thoughtful solutions at the right time

  ~Dr. Paul White, of the Darwin Correspondence Project, for checking the Cambridge University filing numbers on a document that is not online

  ~Bob Strang, for armloads of books by and about Darwin

  ~David Magill, director of the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, and the tireless librarians at Lab, for invaluable access

  ~Angela Sherrill, one of the wizards at 57th Street Books, for reconnaissance and encouragement

  ~My amazing friends at Scholastic, in addition to David Levithan — and there are many! — in particular, Ellie Berger, Suzanne Murphy, Charisse Meloto, Marijka Kostiw, Tracy van Straaten, John Mason, Robin Hoffman, Stephanie Nooney, Lisa McClatchy, and, last but not least, Dick Robinson, whose thoughtful twinkle reigns.

  BLUE BALLIETT spends her time constructing danger boxes in the form of bestselling, acclaimed mystery novels. Chasing Vermeer was a Book Sense Book of the Year and an Edgar Award winner. Kirkus Reviews called The Wright 3 “another tour de force blending art, math, philosophy, history and literature.” And when The Calder Game appeared, Publishers Weekly said (in a starred review) that “Balliett outdoes herself with this ambitious novel.” Blue writes in the laundry room of her home in Hyde Park, Illinois, although her research takes her to many unexpected places — including Three Oaks, Michigan, where this story is set. You can find her online at www.blueballiettbooks.com.

  This book was originally published in hardcover by Scholastic Press in 2010.

  Copyright © 2010 by Elizabeth Balliett Klein.

  All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Inc. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First paperback printing, June 2012

  Cover art © 2010 by Bagram Ibatoulline

  Cover design by Marijka Kostiw

  e-ISBN: 978-0-545-53229-7

  All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, 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 hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.