you can't deny they ever happened. You can't deny you ever loved them, love them still, even if loving them causes you pain

The best books come from someplace inside. You don't write because you want to, but because you have to.

I can't let safety and security become the focus of my life.

I like one hair, tuna fish, the smell of rain and things that are pink. I hate pimples, baked potatoes, when my mother's mad, and religious holidays.

I thought ["Summer Sisters" ] would be a children's book - two girls who summer together from very different backgrounds. And then when it just kept going and going and going. They kept getting older.

"Margaret" was just my truth. It was what I knew to be true about sixth grade.

I think about Lenaya and Hugh. Will they know how much I've changed this year? Will they have changed too? I'll wait until tomorrow to find out. And then it's possible I won't find out after all. Because some changes happen deep down inside of you. And the truth is, only you know about them. Maybe that's the way it's supposed to be.