Heather Vogel Frederick

“Papa taps on the skylight and I look up. He waves at me and smiles. I smile back. For now, I don't need to know what lies ahead. For now it's enough just to be here, safe aboard the Morning Star with my family and friends. For now, it's enough to be home.”

“...But Aunt Anne has encouraged me to continue. In many regards, life itself is a voyage, she says. We never know where its winds and currents will carry us, she says, or what adventures lie ahead, and surely it's worth keeping record of this journey as well.”

“Aunt Anne's lips quirked up in a smile. "Life is not a neat equation to be solved," she said. "It's messy and wild and unpredictable. That's the heartbreak of it, but that's also the glory of it.”

“There's always more to the story, Catriona," She replied. "That's the wonderful thing about stories.”

“Papa was right, after all. A ship's crew was like a family, and together we had done what we never could have managed alone.”

“She forks up a little nibble and wedges it in her mouth. "Yum," she croaks.Mrs. Wong looks pleased. "It's made with tofu."I can't resist. "Free-range tofu?"My mother looks over at me sharply. Mrs. Wong takes the bait. "Now, Cassidy, tofu isn't an animal," she chides. "It's soy bean curd. Soy bean curd doesn't need to roam free."On the floor below me, Emma lets out a little snort. I nudge her again with my foot. We're both grinning at the thought of a corral somewhere with little cubes of tofu wandering around. "Home, home on the range," I sing to her under my breath. "Where the deer and the tofu roam free...”

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single girl in possesion of a pashon for fashon, must be in want of an audiance!”

“Of course, Zach Nortan could show up at school in a garbage bag and still look great.”

“Never say 'I can't.' 'I can't' is a limit, and life is about breaking through limits. Say 'I will' instead.”

“Robin Hood just called, he wants Sherwood Forest back.”

“Friends can never be too early”

“Why is it that girls think boys will notice them if they’re loud anyway.”

“She's right, of course. My mother usually is. She's a librarian.”

“there is hope in maybe.Maybe.Such a tiny word.Such a powerful word.”