When two boys come to spend the summer at Bird Lake, each is reeling from his own personal tragedy. Both boys arrive scarred and fragile, but as they become friends, the sharp edges of their lives smooth out and, slowly, they are able to start to heal. Spencer thought the house might be haunted. Mitch knew it wasn't. And he knew why. The whole time Spencer and Mitch hung out together at Bird Lake that summer, there were secrets keeping them apart. And maybe a secret knowledge keeping them together, too—together like members of the same tribe. Like friends. Author Note Dear Reader, Olive’s Ocean, my last novel, was published in 2003. Since then I’ve written and illustrated three picture books and two board books. All the while I was working on those books, I was thinking about Bird Lake Moon. In fact, my first notes for Bird Lake Moon are dated June 2003. My new book revolves around two boys: Spencer Stone and Mitch Sinclair. It was Spencer and his family who came to me first. It’s interesting to me now that Mitch wasn’t part of the story when I began. But once he appeared in my thoughts and on the page, he became increasingly important. In its final form, the book starts with his story. The creative process is difficult to understand, much less explain. I do know that bits and pieces of my life and of my family’s life are embedded in Bird Lake Moon, as they are in all my books. And, like a person, a book grows, lives, moves forward in its own way. After being a huge part of me for years, Bird Lake Moon is ready to find its readers. It’s bittersweet to let a book go, but I’m already thinking of other ones... Best wishes, Kevin Henkes