We have to acknowledge that adolescence is that time of transition where we begin to introduce to children that life isn't pretty, that there are difficult things, there are hard situations, it's not fair. Bad things happen to good people. Laurie Halse Anderson More Quotes by Laurie Halse Anderson More Quotes From Laurie Halse Anderson Emma hears me come up the stairs and asks me to watch a movie with her. I stick Band-Aids on my weeping cuts, put on pink pajamas so we match, and snuggle with her under her rainbow comforter. She arranges all of her stuffed animals around us in a circle, everyone facing the TV, then presses play...Ghosts dare not enter here. Laurie Halse Anderson cutting play animal I am almost a real girl the entire drive home. I went to a diner. I drank hot chocolate and ate french fries. Talked to a guy for a while. Laughed a couple of times. A little like ice-skating for the first time, wobbly, but I did it. Laurie Halse Anderson girl couple real I smile and play pretend through the Morning Show in the kitchen. Laurie Halse Anderson kitchen play morning The trick to surviving an interrogation is patience. Don't offer up anything. Don't explain. Answer the question and only the question that is asked so you don't accidentally put your head in a noose. Laurie Halse Anderson interrogation tricks answers I stand in the center aisle of the auditorium, a wounded zebra in a National Geographic special, looking for someone, anyone to sit next to. A predator approaches: gray jock buzz cut, whistle around a neck thicker than his head. Probably a social studies teacher, hired to coach a blood sport. Laurie Halse Anderson zebras teacher sports I have never heard a more eloquent silence. Laurie Halse Anderson eloquent silence heard I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner. Laurie Halse Anderson memorial turkeys bird Oppressive bastards, think they own the place. I told them that karma's going to kick their asses. Laurie Halse Anderson ass karma thinking For one moment we are not failed tests and broken condoms and cheating on essays; we are crayons and lunch boxes and swinging so high our sneakers punch holes in the clouds. Laurie Halse Anderson sneakers clouds cheating Grandma frowned and yelled something in Russian. She could have been saying, 'Open up, your best friend is here.' On the other hand, it could have been, 'America is a great country because of canned ravioli. Laurie Halse Anderson grandma country hands Sometimes I think high school is one long hazy activity: if you are tough enough to survive this, they'll let you become an adult. I hope it's worth it. Laurie Halse Anderson long school thinking I knew how much it hurt to be the daughter of people who can't see you, not even if you are standing in front of them stomping your feet. Laurie Halse Anderson daughter hurt feet I knew it!" He pumps a fist into the air. "You've fallen in love with me. You want to have my babies. We'll get a team of horses and a covered wagon and we'll journey to South America and raise goats. Laurie Halse Anderson horse team baby You’re not dead, but you’re not alive, either. You’re a wintergirl, Lia-Lia, caught in between the worlds. You’re a ghost with a beat- ing heart. Soon you’ll cross the border and be with me. I’m so stoked. I miss you wicked. Laurie Halse Anderson wicked missing heart My English teacher has no face. She has uncombed stringy hair that droops on her shoulders. The hair is black from her part to her ears and then neon orange to the frizzy ends. I can't decide if she had pissed off her hairdresser or is morphing into a monarch butterfly. I call her Hairwoman. Laurie Halse Anderson butterfly hair teacher Eating was hard. Breathing was hard. Living was hardest. Laurie Halse Anderson breathing hardest eating I shake my head. I pick up the rake and start making the dead-leaf pile neater. A blister pops and stains the rake handle like a tear. Dad nods and walks to the Jeep, keys jangling in his fingers. A mockingbird lands on a low oak branch and scolds me. I rake the leaves out of my throat. Me: "Can you buy some seeds? Flower seeds? Laurie Halse Anderson dad flower keys Cold and silence. Nothing quieter than snow. The sky screams to deliver it, a hundred banshees flying on the edge of the blizzard. But once the snow covers the ground, it hushes as still as my heart. Laurie Halse Anderson nature sky heart What do I want? The answer to that question does not exist. Laurie Halse Anderson answers doe want Look at the stupid, poor people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people. Look at the stupid, poor, burned-out people, look at their dead baby. It's death porn for the masses. Laurie Halse Anderson stupid baby people
