“Mental ghettos are not mirages; they actually exist in palpable reality: being "open" inside one's mental or intellectual ghetto does not open its door but simply allows one to harbour the illusion...”

“You really want to know what being an X-Man feels like? Just be a smart bookish boy of color in a contemporary U.S. ghetto. Mamma mia! Like having bat wings or a pair of tentacles growing out of yo...”

“Who originates the latest slang terms that are, seemingly overnight, known to every black youth across the country?”

“What the world stigmatizes as romantic is often more nearly allied to the truth than is commonly supposed.”

“Sky, wait. The way his voice wraps around my name makes me wish the only word in his entire vocabulary way Sky.”

“I'm not going to do it again," Lena Marquez whispered to the red purse across the hall from her nestle of blankets. "Never again.”

“And you are?She fluttered her hand over her face andbrushed a wisp of light brown hair from her brow.The governor calls me Kitty. Itd probably be best if you did, too.What an alluring name? It make...”

“He look at you not because you are sexy, but because your perfect smile.”

“He looked at me with such raw need that my heart skipped a beat. He licked his lips and slowly lowered his head to mine. Does it even matter if he only wants me for my blood?”