Middle Grade Quotes

Being a humble person, she gave her pie shop a humble name—PIE.

~ Sarah Weeks

Alice wondered if her mother was aware that she wasn’t the only one in town who’d come down with a bad case of Blueberry Fever.

~ Sarah Weeks

Winston and his sister walked for a time in silence, each in an invisible, vibrating pocket of excitement.

~ Eric Berlin

He felt weighted down by guilt and regret for what might have been his last words to all of them.

~ Karen Ann Wirtz

I'm not sure what he's saying , but by the way he's checking you out, it looks like you're gonna need a restraining order soon. ~ Treena Mui

~ Sharon Ledwith

Life outside is changing our world. We are losing our culture, loosing our roots. How can a living thing grow if its roots are cut?

~ Sherry Shahan

It was the first time her eyes had really met mine and to be honest I think there was more warmth between the lamb chops in the freezer. Daniel meeting Felicity in Cousin Felicity and the Eels of Misty Point.

~ Kaal Kaczmarek

Animales depend on us to take care of them.

~ Angela Cervantes

Such a nice ring…Dead Furry Friends Animal Shelter…so warm and comforting.

~ Angela Cervantes

Alma had been falling in love with a crazy terrier that thought “stay” mean to take off like a rocket. Gaby knew he’d already taken off with Alma’s heart.

~ Angela Cervantes

Danger is the snack food of a true sleuth.

~ Mac Barnett

As chief, I will represent my people in many different ways and might never know which particular action is destined to matter more than another, thus, all my actions should be considered potentially important and worthy of my best effort.

~ Jennifer Frick-Ruppert

And, to be true, an enemy's lair is an enemy's lair, no matter how comfortable or fancy it might appear.

~ Steven J. Carroll

Lardo was getting on in years, and his big belly tended to slow him down a bit.

~ Sarah Weeks

Lush, detailed, total-immersion storytelling.–Kirkus Review

~ Sharon Lovejoy

(Running out of Night) ...is a story that respects this pivotal era of American history, a story that reveals the pain, the courage, and the hope that eventually changed the world.–Middle Shelf : Cool Reads for Kids magazine

~ Sharon Lovejoy

Rarely do page-turners written for middle-school kids also ignite excitement in adults. (A notable exception is the series of Harry Potter books.) Fewer still explore the secret sorrows of children's lives in the mid-1800s, whether enslaved or free. Running Out of Night, a debut novel from Californian Sharon Lovejoy, a veteran author-illustrator known nationally for her prizewinning nonfiction books on gardening and nature, gives you both.–OpEd News

~ Sharon Lovejoy

An Underground Railroad story with a distinctive flavor. –Booklist

~ Sharon Lovejoy

A gripping historical novel . . . heart-stopping, heart-racing and eventually heart-easing.–Library Voice

~ Sharon Lovejoy

This book would be a great addition to a classroom library, especially considering its emphases on timeless and critical topics like discrimination and prejudice. –examiner.com, National Book Examiner

~ Sharon Lovejoy

Very different from other middle grade of YA stories I've read about slaves running during the 1800s. – Wandering Librarian

~ Sharon Lovejoy

The rural, mid-19th-century dialect, coupled with the author's interest in ethnobotany, roots the story deeply in the houses, forests, gardens, and even streambeds of antebellum Virginia. –School Library Journal

~ Sharon Lovejoy

I didn’t see Danny come in or run towards me. He was just suddenly there, pulling me up by my arm so hard that I gasped. I felt his grip on my skin long after he let go. We ran down the steps where Mom met us, coughing. She was followed by a thick black cloud of smoke. I had never felt smoke that hot in my life. I tasted ash when I breathed in.“Go! Get out!” she choked, waving us towards the front door.We ran out into the night in our pajamas.“Run to Violet’s!” Mom called behind us.- The Stable House

~ Laura Smith

Now, he'd loved money for money's sake. He loved the feel of it, not only in his hands, but also in his heart.

~ Steven J. Carroll

See how many doors open, Alastor said, when someone with influence and ideas comes along with a key? Fortune can be hoarded, or it can be shared.

~ Alexandra Bracken

...it's nice of Mrs. Goe to think that marching against the juvenile juror law is going to keep kids safe. But the fact is, we're NOT safe. Nobody is. That's the whole point. There's no such thing as being safe--here or anywhere. People get hurt every day. Some people get killed by weirdos like Bob White and some people just get teased to death at the lunch table for drinking orange soda or eating a tuna fish sandwich.

~ Kate Klise

As for learning to wear high heels, no need to worry. I've got no tolerance for those dreadful things. If God wanted us girls tottering around like a bunch of drunken sailors, we'd have been born wearing stilts!

~ Jenny Lundquist

I have certainly heard of the Subtle Art of Shutting Up, but I can't say I've practiced it all that much. I greatly prefer the underappreciated genius of Speaking My Mind. I figure if someone doesn't like what I have to say, they shouldn't put their ears in close proximity to my mouth.

~ Jenny Lundquist

What's all this nonsense about odd vision and not fitting in? There are plenty worse things in this world than not fitting in--like fitting in way too much. You strike me as a real original, Izzy Malone, in a world that loves carbon copies. If you think you beautified something, I believe you. I've never understood why folks love safe, neutral colors so much. Colors are what make this world worth living in.

~ Jenny Lundquist

Sometimes I think teachers like Ms. Harmer view creativity as something dirty and slightly embarrassing, and would prefer to turn kids into people who color inside the lines.Generally speaking, I don't care much for lines.

~ Jenny Lundquist

P.S. Please don't call me Isabella. That name belongs to a really pretty girl who never wrecks her clothes and who never gets dirt under her fingernails. That's definitely not me. My name is Izzy.

~ Jenny Lundquist

Words are a weapon, and rotten kids like Tyler Jones get a free pass when it comes to using them because the marks they leave are invisible. Why don't more adults realize that?

~ Jenny Lundquist

Turns out, most girls would rather put on lip gloss than play with sand toads.

~ Jenny Lundquist

The bracelet and the first charm appeared the day I punched Austin Jackson in the nose. I didn't mean to slug him. His face just got in my way. It was a bruising end to a disastrous first month in middle school.

~ Jenny Lundquist

I'd always known that when you went through one of these doors, you went to another planet, and that that other planet might be so far away, you couldn't fly there in spaceship in a million years. Somehow, the whole thing had never seemed strange before today.

~ Mary G. Thompson

At this moment, I know that the answer has to be yes. I am defeated. By my own father. How Darth Vader.

~ Denis Markell

It was one flickering ember that was almost smothered to death daily. But it just wouldn’t quit… it was hope.

~ Ariel Roma

I turn back to the Archers, who don’t look like the same species as us. Do they even sweat, these people?

~ Denis Markell

Dad has shamelessly played the Mom card. Against which there is no defense.

~ Denis Markell

Then that night there was an early frost, and by Sunday morning, autumn had truly arrived. The sky was a rich cloudless blue, the air still and dry, the maple trees glowing with glorious reds and oranges and yellows, and everywhere on Gardam Street squirrels bustled about with self-importance, burying their nuts in the most unlikely places.

~ Jeanne Birdsall