Quotes from Linda Sue Park

In my family and among Korean-Americans, there just is no occasion that people would get together without bibimbap. It's something that people eat when they're wanting to celebrate or have a good time with friends.

God bless Interlibrary Loan. I pay a lot of library fines. In the case of 'A Single Shard,' I was using books that hadn't been checked out in 30 years, so I didn't feel too bad.

What I like most: Reading well-written sources that take me to another world for hours at a time - and being able to call that 'work!' Also, of course, finding a gem of information that is either exactly what I was looking for, or else fits perfectly into the story in some way.

I often have trouble falling asleep at night, so when I'm lying in bed I think up stories. That's where I do a lot of my thinking. I also get a lot of ideas while I'm reading - sometimes reading someone else's stories will make me think of one of my own.

A mistake made with good in your heart is still a mistake, but it is one for which you must forgive yourself.

One step at a time, one day at a time, just today, just this day to get through.

Why was it that pride and foolishness were so often close companions?

You burn the paper, but not the words. You silence the words, but not the thoughts. You kill the thoughts only if you kill the man. And you will find that his thoughts rise again in the minds of others - twice as strong as before.

One step at a time . . . one day at a time. Just today—just this day to get through . . .

Reading for writers is like training for athletes.

How could an alphabet—letters that didn't even mean anything by themselves—be important? But it was important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet. Even Uncle's newspaper. It was all about words. If words weren't important, they wouldn't try so hard to take them away.

If a man is keeping an idea to himself, and that idea is taken by stealth or trickery-I say it is stealing. But once a man has revealed his idea to others, it is no longer his alone. It belongs to the world.

He was floating with his head down, blood streaming from a bullet hole in the back of his neck.

If he were older and stronger, would he have given water to those men? Or would he, like most of the group, have kept his water for himself?

Quitting leads to much less happiness in life than perseverance and hope. Salva Dut

Salva shouldered his way through the crowd until he was standing in front of the list. He raised his head slowly and began reading through the names. There it was. Salva Dut—Rochester, New York. Salva was going to New York. He was going to America!

How could memories feel so close and so far away at the same time?

More than twelve hundred boys arrived safely. It took them a year and a half.

Stay calm when things are hard or not going right with you. You will get through it when you persevere instead of quitting.

Her sickness came from the water," the nurse explained. "She should drink only good clean water. If the water is dirty, you should boil it for a count of two hundred before she drinks

The bag sprang a leak. The leak had to be patched. The patch sprang a leak. The crew patched the patch. Then the bag sprang another leak. The drilling could not go on.

They patched the bag again. The drilling went on.

Tree-ear has taken his first step toward his dream. Realizing a dream can be very hard, though. Sometimes, a dream can seem so far away, it almost disappears. But maybe if Tree-ear takes it one hill, one valley, one day at a time, just maybe, he'll be able to make his dream come true.

And one day at a time, the group made its way to Kenya. More than twelve hundred boys arrived safely. It took them a year and a half.