“Only the nonreader fears books. ”

“The only way you can write is by the light of the bridges burning behind you.”

“Because nobody but a reader ever became a writer.”

“And I'll tell you something else for free. If you set a foot over that doorsill, I'll wring your red neck.”

“Blue lightning flashed in the kitchen, and for a split second you could see every calendar on the wall in there. Than an almighty explosion like the crack of doom. She'd rolled a cherry bomb across the floor, and it went off right under the eight feet of the Cowgill brothers, the three big bruisers and Ernie.”

“I read.. because one life is not enough”

“September 11We thought we'd outdistanced historyTold our children it was nowhere near;Even when history struck Columbine,It didn't happen here.We took down the maps in the classroom,And when they were safely furled,We told the young what they wanted to hear,That they were immune from a menacing world.But history isn't a folded-up map,Or an unread textbook tome;Now we know history's a fireman's childWaiting at home alone.”