Are you ready?" Klaus asked finally. "No," Sunny answered. "Me neither," Violet said, "but if we wait until we're ready we'll be waiting for the rest of our lives, Let's go.

But the law is an odd thing. For instance, one country in Europe has a law that requires all its bakers to sell bread at the exact same price. A certain island has a law that forbids anyone from removing its fruit. And a town not too far from where you live has a law that bars me from coming within five miles of its borders.

Just because something is traditional is no reason to do it, of course.

It doesn't take courage to kill someone,' Klaus said. 'It takes a severe lack of moral stamina.

How do you do?" said Violet. "How do you do?" said Klaus. "Odo yow!" said Sunny.

Is it fair for the bears to come down to where humans live, looking for food? Is it fair for the Duke's soldiers to shoot at them? Is it fair for the bears to crush them with giant snowballs? Often, if you point out something that isn't fair, someone will reply, "Life isn't fair." What is to be done with such people?

Just about everybody has written a first novel that they throw away before writing their actual first novel.