“None of [the books are] worth reading. There are no fairy tales, no faerie tails, no sword-swinging princesses or lightning-throwing gods.”

“This girl shivers and crawls under the covers with all her clothes on and falls into an overdue library book, a faerie story with rats and marrow and burning curses. The sentences build a fence around her, a Times Roman 10-point barricade, to keep the thorny voices in her head from getting too close.”

“We are crayons and lunchboxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds.”

“Because I am still a little girl who believes in Santa and the tooth fairy and you.”

“In the spring of fifth grade, the boob fairy arrived with her wand and smacked Cassie wicked hard.”

“For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds.”

“Revision means throwing out the boring crap and making what’s left sound natural.”