Quotes from Laurie Halse Anderson

One of the seeds has split its shell and reaches a white hand upward. An apple tree growing from an apple seed growing in an apple. I show the little plantseed to Ms. Keen. She gives me extra credit. David rolls his eyes. Biology is so cool.

When people don't express themselves, they die one piece at a time. You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside—walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer or a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know.

Broken leaves flew into the air from the violence of his thrashing, and the gore and blood kept pouring from the black hole in his belly and from his mouth - surely enough blood for ten men, a sight horrid enough to make God Himself weep - and suddenly, his boots stopped running and his form stilled and then......Death caught him.

thoughts hidden there? If she can, what will she do? Call the cops? Send me to the nuthouse? Do I want her to? I just want to sleep. The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away. It won't. I'll need brain surgery to cut it out of my head. Maybe I should wait until David Petrakis is a doctor, let him do it.

I drift into the armpits of strangers, tasting their manic salt, and sleep to forget everything.

I just do what I'm told. If I felt like talking, I would explain that she couldn't pay me enough to play on her basketball team. All that running? Sweating? Getting knocked around by genetic mutants? I don't think so.

In the spring of fifth grade, the boob fairy arrived with her wand and smacked Cassie wicked hard.

The world turns upside down every day.

Rape wounds deeply, splits open your core with shrapnel. The stench of the injury attracts maggots which hatch into clouds of doubt and self-loathing the dirt you feel inside you nourishes anxiety, depression, and shame poisoning your blood, festering in your brain until you will do anything to stop feeling the darkness rising within anything to stop feeling– untreated pain is a cancer of the soul that can kill you

I'm just going to pretend that a very good-smelling, incredibly warm stranger is sitting next to me, a harmless stranger.

The sentences build a fence around her, a Times Roman 10-point barricade, to keep the thorny voices in her head from getting too close.

Why not draw naked guys, just to be fair? Naked women is art, naked guys a no-no, I bet. Probably because most painters are men.

It had become easier to lie about most things because it didn't hurt as much when he ignored me.

When one suffers, all are weakened, but when everyone thrives, we dance.

Why do you have such a crappy attitude about math? I don't. I have a crappy attitude about everything.

Mandatory community service" seemed like hypocrisy

Life was a battle, and Mother a tired and bitter captain

Slush is frozen over. People say that winter lasts forever, but it's because they obsess over the thermometer. North in the mountains, the maple syrup is trickling. Brave geese punch through the thin ice left on the lake. Underground, pale seeds roll over in their sleep. Starting to get restless. Starting to dream green.

The whole point of not talking about it, of silencing the memory, is to make it go away.

The fat, pumpkin-colored moon rose, turning bloodstains into shadows. All of the colors of shirts and jackets and uniforms paled to the same shade of gray.

If the president was back, then the fever was truly over. If the president was back, we were safe. I threw my arms around Nathaniel and planted a big kiss on his cheek. He pulled back in surprise. "Do you always do that when the president rides by? If so, I'll take a job working for him." I blushed and looked down at my feet.

I am spinning the silk threads of my story, weaving the fabric of my world.

If I ever form my own clan, we'll be the Anti-Cheerleaders. We will not sit in the bleachers. We will wander underneath them and commit mild acts of mayhem.

If you howl at the moon and swear on your own blood, anything you desire will be yours. Be careful what you wish for. There's always a catch.