Quotes from Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

Maggie ignored this. "I'll be glad to come to the party. Home's dreadful, you can't imagine. I've never liked school, but now home's worse. Mum's in a funk all the time." Every

I'll come," she said softly. "I will. It would be good to be among family again.

When we'd settled ourselves on the bed in Jamie's room, he said quietly, "Mam was angry at everything too.

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

What if he'd had to be put down?

crippled. He'd been better as soon as his hooves were trimmed.

I'm tired of feeling ashamed. About my foot.

Christmas trees are a nice tradition. Green in the midst of winter, light in the midst of darkness—it's all metaphors for God.

You can know all the things you like, but that doesn´t mean you believe them

That's your map of the past. What's in the map of your future?" I stared at her. "What do you want?" she persisted. I had no idea. When I'd first been evacuated I'd wanted to be like the girl riding the pony, racing the train. Now I was. Parts of me were still jumbled—but maybe that girl had been jumbled too. I'd only seen her from the outside.

My own ignorance shames me.

My own emotions were such a jumble. I'd known the right thing to do, and I'd done it....I'd felt afraid, but I hadn't come undone. My foot would never be all the way right, but I could walk and climb and run. My feelings might never be all the way right either, but they were healed enough.

Miss Smith opened the back door. "Ada," she called, "come here, please." Right. I pretended I hadn't heard, and turned Butter so our backsides faced her.

I don't want to tell you a lie, and I don't know the truth.

The whale meat was dire. In the end, we fed most of it to Mrs. Rochester. It gave her gas.

I pulled her hand farther around my waist. She leaned her head between my shoulder blades, muttering to herself

She was not a nice person, but she cleaned up the floor. She was not a nice person, but she bandaged my foot in a white piece of cloth, and gave us two of her own clean shirts to wear.

Miss Smith was not a nice person, but the bed she put us in was soft and clean, with smooth thin blankets and warm thicker ones.

I smiled. He looked like he was waiting

She had to love me, because she was my mam, and Susan was just somebody who got stuck taking care of Jamie and me because of the war.

Saying something stupid doesn't make you stupid," Susan said. " Luckily for all of us.

Your courage, your cheerfulness, your resolution'—she was saying it wrong. I scowled—'will bring you victory, my dear.

I was," I said. "It didn't matter." Fear and what you did with it were two separate things.

I wouldn't have told Susan I loved her even if I thought it was true. Words can be dangerous, as destructive as bombs.