Kids are smart. Knowledge is power. Let them figure things out. Don't turn into that grown-up who they won't come to.

Kids are smart. Knowledge is power. Let them figure things out. Don't turn into that grown-up who they won't come to.

You know it’s them books what make you talk funny.

I loved everyone who said yes to the world and tried to make it better instead of worse, because so much in the world was ugly- and just about all the ugly parts were due to humans.

If you breathed deep and set your mind to it, you could rise above your anger.

So as a seventh grader, no, you weren't friends with people you didn't like. But sometimes you also weren't friends with people you did like, which was complicated, and which didn't make any sense if you tried to explain it. Sometimes things just changed. That's where the sadness came in.

And books are such an empowering way to give voice to some of these kids who aren't yet ready to tell their story. Or don't know what their story is, or are trying to figure it out.