“The only thing worse than a boy who hates you: a boy that loves you.”

“He does something to me, that boy. Every time. Its his only detriment. He steps on my heart. He makes me cry.”

“A DEFINITION NOT FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY Not leaving: an act of trust and love,often deciphered by children”

“She leaned down and looked at his lifeless face and Leisel kissed her best friend, Rudy Steiner, soft and true on his lips. He tasted dusty and sweet. He tasted like regret in the shadows of trees ...”

“If only she could be so oblivious again, to feel such love without knowing it, mistaking it for laughter. ”

“Even death has a heart.”

“... millions long for immortality who don't know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon.”

“There is an hour of the afternoon when the plain is on the verge of saying something. It never says, or perhaps it says it infinitely, or perhaps we do not understand it, or we understand it and it...”

“Once, I took the penny whistle you gave me and discovered a spotby the roaring falls where I could play as loud as I wanted. I lay in the bifurcated trunkof a low-slung birch tree. The sun peeked t...”

“Some experiences are universal. A girl is a girl whether she lives in West Omaha or Sweet Valley. Books are often far more than books.”

“A half-read book is a half-finished love affair.”

“The love of learning, the sequestered nooks,And all the sweet serenity of books”

“Fear has nothing to do with cowardice. A fellow is only yellow when he lets his fear make him quit.”

“I always envied them, the owners of the cars with the white plates who can be seen around Jerusalem. I always wanted to be one of them. We call them U.N., even though U.N. are generally foreign cor...”

“I made a circle with a smile for a mouth on yellow paper, because it was sunshiny and bright.”