Quotes from Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

My bad foot's a long way from my brain.

But now, thinking back, it seemed a little silly to be unhappy about a dress when the pilots were dead. If I had it to do over, I would at least have learned their names.

I wanted to talk to her when she hadn't just been hit on the head. I wanted to know if she'd still like me when she wasn't woozy.

I've learned that some things are almost impossible to talk about because they're things no one wants to know. ? ? ? Not even me.

Broken bones take a long time to heal. Why shouldn't brains?

Sometimes, Ada," she said, "I get very tired of you setting the example for us all.

You can know things all you like, but that doesn't mean you believe them.

You can know all the things you like, but that does not mean you believe them.

I was glad, you know, to read the book. To know it didn't only happen to me.

One step, I thought. One step at a time.

wanted Mam to be like Susan. I didn't really trust Susan not to be like Mam.

I stored this information in my head in the bulging file titled "Things I Wished I Didn't Know." It included what it felt like to walk on a clubfoot for ten years, and what it sounded like to have your mother say she never wanted to see you again.

Worse than giant, fire-breathing lizards that could fly? Sounded like we should send dragons after Hitler.

I love you," I whispered. I buried my head against Susan's shoulder. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I didn't tell you before." "Don't be sorry," she whispered back. "I know you love me. You know I love you too." • •

After that, with help from Jamie, I left Susan little notes every day. Susan is a big frog. (That one made Jamie giggle.)

When we'd settled ourselves on the bed in Jamie's room, he said quietly, "Mam was angry at everything too." My head snapped up. "Because of me," I said. "Because of my foot.

Mam had never been anything but angry. Even when she smiled, she always stayed angry inside. No sadness, no joy. Just anger.

But I'm used to him not being around, especially when I'm at school. I mostly didn't live with him. So I don't actually miss him even though I'm sorry that he's dead. Sometimes I realize that for a few hours I've forgotten all about him. I think I miss the idea of him more than miss his real self. Does that make me a bad person? I'm afraid it does.

Potato picking was tedious, dirty, exhausting, and cold. I rather liked it.

Lady Thorton never went to boarding school. She seems to imagine it as a sort of jolly holiday." Susan had gone to boarding school. "Was it?" "No," Susan said. "Mind you, I didn't hate it. But sometimes being in a group of girls is just as lonely as being alone.

When Jamie had to use the toilet, soldiers passed him over their heads to the one at the end of the car, and back again when he was done.

I told you, nobody goes into foster care for good reasons. Foster care might be better than anything you've ever had in your life so far, and it will still never be as good as what you should have had. If the family you were born into was what it should have been.

She was wrong." I shrugged. "I can say that," I said. "It's harder to believe it.

I didn't know what to do. Susan was temporary. My foot was permanent.