“schwa: The faint vowel sound in many unstressed syllables in the English language. It is signified by the pronunciation "uh" and represented by the symbol upside down e. For example, the e in overlook, the a in forgettable, and the o in run-of-the-mill.It is the most common vowel sound in the English language.”

“We weren't going anywhere," Nick said with a smile. He was trying to sound charming, but instead wound up sounding heavily sedated.”

“Your hair looks funny," Lief said, as soon as the Ugloids left. "It stands straight up!"No," said Nick, intensely irritated, "It's hanging straight down."Lief just gave him an upside-down shrug. "Up is down in China and you're part-Chinese.”

“Ooh, I like this one!" Connor says. "'Diminished prospects for future.' Sounds like a stock report!”

“I don't want to go to the government," the Schwa says. "Yeah," I said. "They'd dissect him and put him in a formaldehyde fish tank in Area 51." Howie shook his head. "Area 51 is for aliens," he says. "They'd probably put him in Area 52.”

“Then you'd better listen, because me sounding like Bronte is one of the signs of the apocalypse-and if the end fo the world is coming, good deeds could earn you Judgment day brownie points.”

“Do you know that if you take the books in an average school library and stretched out all those words into a single line, the line would go all the way around the world? Actually, I made that up, but doesn't it sound like it should be true?”