“Dave put a lot of thought into picking out the books his dad would like least.”

“Adding kidney beans to his cottage cheese and pineapple was an act of bravery Dave had not intended.”

“Don't you know a kiss would change the world forever?”

“On the porch were the still-smoking remains of long-stemmed roses, evidence that someone angry and passive-aggressive didn't know Peter was out of town.”

“Ben remembered reading about curators in "Wonderstruck", and thought about what id meant to curate your own life, as his dad had done here. What would it be like to pick and choose the objects and stories that would go in your own cabinet? How would Ben curate his own life? And then, thinking about his museum box, and his house, and his books, and the secret room, he realized he'd already begun doing it. Maybe, thought Ben, we are all cabinets of wonders.”

“I think back to the last thing Dave said to me and try to imagine what escaping oxygen would look like. It looks a lot like drowning.”

“At that moment, Dave would have lifted a house for Jimmy, held it up to his chest until Jimmy told him where to put it down.”