Quotes from Polly Shulman

The one who asks questions does not lose his way.

What I mean is, all the terrible things that happen in fairy tales seem real. Or not real, but genuine. Life is unfair, and the bad guys keep winning and good people die. But I like how that's not always the end of it...Evil is real, but so is good. They always say fairy tales are simplistic, black and white, but I don't think so. I think they're complicated. That's what I love about them.

So how did you get this job, anyway?' I asked. 'My science teacher.' 'Why'd he pick you?' 'For my brains and good looks, obviously.' 'Yeah, right. My social studies teacher picked me, but I can't really figure out why." 'For your brains and good looks, obviously.' 'Um, thanks.' Had Aaron just complimented me? Wow.

And what could my father possibly want with another child, when he hardly bothered to talk to the one he already had?

Good," said Dr. Rust. "Take Elizabeth up to stack 9 and show her the ropes." "But the ropes are on stack 2." "I meant metaphorically.

Would you really want to live in world where only the possible is possible?

Seeing the transformation in Aaron made me wonder how it would feel to have someone-even a not-so-nice guy like Aaron- look at me the way he looked at Anjali.

Oh, a mermaid's comb. Heavy stuff, but safe enough as long as you don't use it around water. Or a busy highway. You're not planning to lure any young men to their doom, are you?" How embarrassing! I shook my head, blushing.

Are you out of your candy wrapper?

What are you doing?" "I'm darning a sock," he said, holding it up to show me. "What's that lump inside?" "A sock egg." "A sock egg? I didn't know socks hatched from eggs." "Only the best ones do. I can't wear the cheap kind, the ones that grow on trees. They give me blisters.

I was convinced I felt as strongly about Jane Austen's books as Ashleigh had ever felt about any of her crazes, but my love was deep and silent - and therefore easily overshadowed.

You're just jealous," I said. "You can believe what you want," Aaron said. "But somebody's stealing from the Grimm Collection. They're either taking the objects or somehow sucking out their magic. Doc and theh librarians are going to find out who, and if Marc is in on it, you're going to be sorry you were helping him." "Marc isn't in on it. And I love this place too! We're all on the same side!" "I hope that's true," Aaron said.

Nonsense," said another voice-Dr. Rust. "We're librarians. When we don't find what we're looking for in the first place we look, we don't give up. We keep looking.

We have the librarians on our side. We have *justice* on our side.

isn't that dangerous?" I objected. "What if somebody used it on people - what if they put it on replace and turned us all into fictional characters?" "How do you know they haven't?" asked Marc.

Did you get it back?" "Of coarse, the very next day. And even if I hadn't-because there have been things I've been asked to give up for good... Well, over the years here I've learned that sometimes a great loss is also a great gain." Under the slowly swirling freckles, Doc's face looked infinitely sad. Somehow I didn't find that reassuring.

There is little more likely to exasperate a person of sense than finding herself tied by affection and habit to an enthusiast.

You're sweet, Leo," said Jaya. "But how do you know the you in the world where I'm not me isn't saying the exact same thing to the not-me me right now?" "I don't. But I don't care what he's saying because he's not me. He's just some other guy saying something to some other girl who isn't you. Or maybe he's the girl and you're a guy in which case he's some other girl saying something to some other guy who isn't you," I said. "It has nothing to do with us.

We have the librarians on our side. We have *justice* on our side.