Everything I write, I read out loud. It has to sound a certain way. It has to look a certain way on the page.

I think people are sometime reluctant to read outside of their own race. This is heartbreaking.

That's what makes best friends. It's not whether or not you live on the same block or go to the same school, but how you feel about each other in your hearts.

Mama says it's okay to be on the quiet side—if quiet means you're listening, watching, taking it all in.

Lately, I'd been feeling like I was standing outside watching everything and everybody. Wishing I could take the part of me that was over there and the part of me that was over here and push them together—make myself into one whole person like everybody else.

Maybe this was our last summer as best friends. I feel like something's going to change now and I'm not going to be able to change it back. —Margaret

I think it's important to remember that writing is a gift and our stories are gifts to ourselves and to the world and sometimes giving isn't always the easiest thing to do but it comes back.