01c. 1961 ADIn one universe, they are gorgeous, straight-teethed, long-legged, wrapped in designer fashions, and given sports cars on their sixteenth birthdays. Teacher smile at them and grade them on the curve. They know the first names of the staff. They are the Pride of the Trojans. Oops – I mean Pride of the Blue Devils.In Universe #2, they throw parties wild enough to attract college students. They worship the stink of Eau de Jocque. They rent beach houses in Cancún during Spring Break and get group-rate abortions before prom.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
02c. 1961 ADI picked up one of the books and flipped through it. Don't get me wrong, I like reading. But some books should come with warning labels: Caution: contains characters and plots guaranteed to induce sleepiness. Do not attempt to operate heavy machinery after ingesting more than one chapter. Has been known to cause blindness, seizures and a terminal loathing of literature. Should only be taken under the supervision of a highly trained English teacher. Preferably one who grades on the curve.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
03c. 1961 ADCensorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
04c. 1961 ADCensoring books that deal with difficult, adolescent issues does not protect anybody. Quite the opposite. It leaves kids in the darkness and makes them vulnerable. Censorship is the child of fear and the father of ignorance. Our children cannot afford to have the truth of the world withheld from themLaurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
05c. 1961 ADI wanted to pull down a book, open it proper, and gobble up page after pageLaurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
06c. 1961 ADDr. StupidParker says that when I'm sad it really means I'm angry and when I'm angry it really means I'm afraid.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
07c. 1961 ADKilling people is easier than it should be.” Dad put on his beret. “Staying alive is harder.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
08c. 1961 ADArt without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
09c. 1961 ADThis is wonderful, wonderful! Be the bird. You are the bird. Sacrifice yourself to abandoned family values....Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
10c. 1961 ADIt had been a good day, all things considered. I had managed rather well on my own. I opened Grandfather's Bible. This is what it would be like when I had my own shop, or when I traveled abroad. I would always read before sleeping. One day, I'd be so rich I would have a library full of novel to choose from. But I would always end the evening with a Bible passage.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
12c. 1961 ADThe world is crazy. You need a license to drive a car and go fishing. You don't need a license to start a family. Two people have sex and BAM! Perfectly innocent kid is born whose life will be screwed up by her parents forever.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
13c. 1961 ADI want to go to sleep and not wake up, but I don’t want to die.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
14c. 1961 ADIf I had lady-spider legs, I would weave a sky where the stars lined up. Matresses would be tied down tight to their trucks, bodies would never crash through windshields. The moon would rise above the wine-dark sea and give babies only to maidens and musicians who had prayed long and hard. Lost girls wouldn't need compasses or maps. They would find gingerbread paths to lead them out of the forest and home again. They would never sleep in silver boxes with white velvet sheets, not until they were wrinkled-paper grandmas and ready for the trip.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
15c. 1961 ADI am an owl, bird of the night. I see everything. I know everything.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
16c. 1961 ADUntil then we're going to keep making memories like this, moments when we're the only two people in the whole world. And when we get scared or lonely or confused, we'll pull out these memories and wrap them around us and they'll make us feel safe. And strong.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
18c. 1961 ADMr. Freeman sighs. "No imagination. What are you thirteen? Fourteen? You've already let them beat your creativity out of you!Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
19c. 1961 ADI just want to sleep. A coma would be nice. Or amnesia. Anything, just to get rid of this, these thoughts, whispers in my mind. Did he rape my head, too?Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
20c. 1961 ADIt doesn't hurt. Nothing hurts except the small smiles and blushes that flash across the room like tiny sparrows.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
21c. 1961 ADI pull my lower lip all the way in between my teeth. If I try hard enough, maybe I can gobble my whole self this way.... I didn't try hard enough to swallow myself.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
22c. 1961 ADI stuff my mouth with old fabric and scream until there are no sounds left under my skin.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
23c. 1961 ADI looked in the mirror and realized that I was already dead. I let you kill me one piece at a time, starting when I was, what? Eight years old? Nine? You killed yourself and then you came after us.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
24c. 1961 ADI had let down my shields, that was the problem. The crazy inside Dad had infected me, weakened me so that when Finn smiled, I'd been vulnerable. I'd dropped my shields and let myself pretend that somebody like Finn would want to be with somebody like me.Laurie Halse Anderson / quote ↗
