“Some people need a red carpet rolled out in front of them in order to walk forward into friendship. They can't see the tiny outstretched hands all around them, everywhere, like leaves on trees.”

“As the three of them walked home from the trees, nobody needed to say it, but Ama knew. They had questioned their friendship. They had searched and wondered, looking for a sign. And all along they'd had their trees. You couldn't wear them. You couldn't pass them around. They offered no fashion advantage. But they had roots. They lived.”

“Some people leave, yeah, and it sucks. But some people don't leave, and they never will. And sometimes people are there, but you just can't see them. But they're still there.”

“People existed, however, who believed that closet racist were everywhere around them. They needed to believe this in order to have prupose and meaning in their lives, and to have someone to hate.”

“I knew books could see people around them, they ground their tiny teeth, tried to rattle like windows, stories to tell.”

“Rock 'n' roll is not red carpets and MySpace friends, rock'n'roll is dangerous and should piss people off”