“Secret Saturdays ought to be required reading at middle schools everywhere. Maldonado gives us both voice and heart. His young characters navigate a challenging world with endearing earnestness, lively style, and a heartening desire for true friendship and dignity.”

“Young men often laugh at the sensible girls whom they secretly respect, and affect to admire the silly ones whom they secretly despise, because earnestness, intelligence, and womanly dignity are not the fashion.”

“In this world in which we live, there is a tendency for us to describe neededchange, required help, and desired relief with the familiar phrase, ‘They ought to dosomething about this.’ We fail to define the word they. I love the message, ‘Letthere be peace on earth, and let it begin with me.”

“...it is how a person goes about quenching his desires or living with them unrequited that the readers get a glimpse of his true character.”

“All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.”

“All who call on God in true faith, earnestly from the heart, will certainly be heard, and will receive what they have asked and desired.”