Quotes from Ann M. Martin

Dawn had not yet said anything nice. She was trying to be friendly, but something wasn't right. Did she think I looked terrible? Was she mad at me?

Oh, easy," said Janine. "It was George Herman. That's it. I won!" "Cheater!" I cried. "You looked! You must have looked!" "I did not," Janine retorted. "I just knew it." "Nerd!" Janine slammed the board shut and walked off in a huff.

I felt invisible. Nobody had said anything to me since that comment about the celebratory salad. I wished desperately that Mimi were alive. If she were, she'd have been sitting right next to me and she would have known how I was feeling. She'd have shared in Janine's triumph, but then she would have said to me, "Tell me, my Claudia, how was your club meeting today? Did you get any baby-sitting jobs?" Mimi always knew the right thing to say.

Mimi … Oh, you just take Janine's side because she's smarter than I am. Mom and Dad love her more because she's smarter, and I bet you do, too!

We don't want to be naked if … you know," Carolyn added. "If the monster comes?" Mary Anne asked. The girls blushed.

You might not think to wear pink socks with gold stretch pants, and then add a gold turtleneck under a pink sweater. But that's what I did yesterday, and then I added blue jewelry. It was great! I looked like a human sunset. The outfit made me very happy.)

I have thought of that triple homonym before, but I know this is not the time to mention it. Instead, this is the time for the feeling of friendliness.

Today was the kind of day when I couldn't imagine anything more worthwhile!

All of a sudden it dawned on me. I knew. I just knew. I was adopted, and my adoption papers were in there. If I were adopted, that would explain why I didn't look like anyone in my family, why I didn't act like anyone in my family, and why there were so few pictures of me. I wasn't Mom and Dad's real kid. I was an unwanted baby, or an orphan like Emily Michelle.

You're right." I stood up and grabbed my coat. "I quit the Baby-sitters Club!

Tiffany's eleven

All week I kept the awful secret of my adoption to myself. I didn't even tell Stacey what I'd discovered, and Stacey is my best friend in the world. I wanted to talk to Stacey, but I couldn't. Not yet. There must, I thought, be some terrible reason for keeping my adoption a secret, but what could the terrible reason be?

Are you going to talk about boys?" Sarah laughed. "What boys?" "Any boys." "No. We're talking about what we want for Christmas." "I want a dog," said Rose, hurrying to Abby's side. "A sister," said Sarah. "Poetry books," said Abby. "You just want poetry books because Zander likes poetry," said Rose.

I was sure Grandmother Madden would like that.

She was wearing a wonderful Claudia outfit — a purple-and-white striped bodysuit under a gray jumper-thing. The legs of the bodysuit stretched all the way to her ankles, but she was wearing purple push-down socks anyway. Around her middle was a wide purple belt with a buckle in the shape of a telephone. And on her feet were black ballet slippers.

Maybe by the time she was a parent there would be automatic diaper-changers

I know what mine is going to be about.

Remerber when the Babbysiters club took car of forteen children?

I wished Charlotte had asked for me. It made me feel like I wasn't a good sitter or something, even though I knew that wasn't really true.

Ready for New York and whatever it held for me.

Jenny didn't know how to share. She wouldn't cooperate with the other children. She said she wanted to play by herself, but when the other kids left her alone, she complained bitterly. "Nobody likes me," she wailed. She was sitting at a picnic table making a get-well card. She lowered her head onto her arm, the picture of despair.

Quarantine: No admittance!

I'd like to learn how to needlepoint.

Parents are just older weirdos doing the best they can.