“The years went by, and Mary Alice and I grew up, Slower than we wanted to, faster than we realized.”

“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.”

“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.”

“We write by the light of every story we have ever read. ”

“Anyone who thinks small towns are friendlier than big cities lives in a big city.”

“I read because one of these days I'm going to get out of this town, and I'm going to go everywhere and meet everybody, and I want to be ready”

“All my life I used to wonder what I would become when I grew up. Then, about seven years ago, I realized that I was never going to grow up--that growing is an ever ongoing process.”