While Garth Stein was thinking about how he could adapt his
adult book for younger readers like his 11-year-old son, Alyson Day and Phoebe
Yeh at HarperCollins Children's books were talking about the exact same thing. "I
devoured the adult book. I stayed up late reading it and wanted to hand it to
everyone I knew," Day said. "The voice of Enzo stayed with me."
When she discussed with Yeh the idea of approaching Stein about a book for
younger readers, she agreed. Day said, "It had a poignancy and a humor,
and a message of hope that we felt translated to young readers in the same way."
She believed that children could relate to Enzo's perspective, observing what's
unsaid and picking up on body language. To emphasize that identification, Day
said they wanted to bring Denny and Eve's young daughter, Zoë, more to the
forefront in this edition, and emphasize the relationship between them.
Day then approached Stein's editor, Jennifer Barth, in the HarperCollins adult division, who told Day, "This is fortuitous because Garth also mentioned this to me." The author had received letters from librarians and teachers whose students couldn't read all of the book because of adult language in some sections, and because of allegations of sexual molestation in the grandparents' efforts to gain custody of Zoë. Stein explained, "The only reason the allegation is in there is because that's one of the only ways a biological father can lose custody of his child." Day found another: charges of neglect. In this case, both are trumped-up, but by tying Denny up in the courts, the grandparents were able to drain him of his finances.
But as Stein put it, "The book is about how we lead our lives and the choices we make and how we see the world around us." For Day, those themes seemed ideal to bring families together in conversation. "When we set out to create the [young readers'] edition, it was in that spirit, that the parent and child can sit side by side and read it," she said.
Day's main objective was "to stay true to Enzo's voice and the tone of Garth's writing overall." She and Stein went through the manuscript and "tried to hone and strengthen and clarify Enzo's philosophies, while still focusing on grappling with these great notions of Enzo coming back as a person and being all that he could be," she said. Early in the book, Enzo sees Denny as a wonder: "He is so brilliant. He shines. He's beautiful with his hands that grab things and his tongue that says things." Day pointed out that children are making similar discoveries about themselves and their own development. "We take these things for granted and we shouldn't. Kids are discovering their abilities in this way, and coming into their own in the same way Enzo is," she said. "Enzo sees things in the ways kids do, those things that are unsaid, the nuances, the body language, the pauses," Day observes. "That's why it's a wonderful way to enter the story."