Middle Grade Quotes

Looking at my reflection tonight, I see a new girl staring back at me. She has big hair and big eyes and a big heart. Not only is she the perfect size and pretty...she is smart. -Mackenzie

Tara Michener

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

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

Denis Markell

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

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

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

Denis Markell

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

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

Your mother would have more luck winning her election than teaching you how to be charming. Izzy Malone, going to charm school! Are you going to walk across the room with a book stuck on your head?""No, it's not like that at all," I said as he doubled over with laughter. "And I really don't see what's so funny.""It's just that"--he gasped--"it would be like teaching a hippo to wear high heels!

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

...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

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

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

Did I ever tell you that we used to keep our horses where your house is?”“Yeah,” I mumbled.She continued her story, “My brothers used to get up early every morning and go across the street, well, there wasn’t a street there yet. It was just a dirt road, and they used to get up and clean the stables and feed the horses every morning. I would go over there once they had finished and give the horses a brush, even though none of those horses were mine. I had always wanted my own horse, but I never got one. When my father got older, he got rid of the horses and sold the land, all but this yard here."She spread her hand over the yard as she said this."I grew up and got married and had to move away. My husband and I lived in an apartment above a bread store. And it was so cramped, let me tell you. There was nowhere to move around and no yard to take care of. It was terrible. I’m not saying I wanted my husband to die. I’d never have wished that in a million years. But I was so relieved to come home after two years, and I've lived here ever since."I had stopped raking, turned and looked at her."I know why you don’t want to leave this street," she said, "You’ve been in that house your whole life, just like me. And no matter where you go it’s not going to seem like home. But just like me, you’re going to come back. You have to remind yourself of that. And I did hate being away from home, but it was the most memorable time in my life, being away. It was an adventure as much as it was scary. But when I came home, I learned to get out more. I went to beauty school and got a job at the salon and took trips with friends. I like to get away from the house so that I can come back and still appreciate it. And you will too after you come back.”I nodded at Violet. What she was saying made sense.“I’ll go,” I said, “Tell them I’ll go.”- The Stable House

Laura Smith

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

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

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

Sarah Weeks

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

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

Danger is the snack food of a true sleuth.

Mac Barnett

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

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

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

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

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

Karen Ann Wirtz

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

Eric Berlin

To my faithful readers, because a book is like a pie—the only thing more satisfying than cooking up the story is knowing that somebody might be out there eating it up with a spoon.

Sarah Weeks

Polly had a gift for baking pies, and she poured her heart and soul into every one she made.

Sarah Weeks

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

If teams had to name themselves honestly, they’d all be the Pimple-Faced Teenagers.

Eric Berlin

Uh, she said maybe your eyes matched the Fog like a synchronous magnetic field?” “I don’t even know what language that is.

Joel N. Ross

...and now over to our foriegn allegory correspondant, Barv Tweezman." ~The Shielding of Mortimer Townes

Montgomery Thompson

Well what would you expect?" she sputtered. "They can call themselves privateers, but we all know they're just pirates with papers.

Jason Fry

If there's one thing Robert had learned in three weeks at Lovecraft Middle School, it's that nothing was impossible.

Charles Gilman

Suddenly, she heard a loud bang, a thump and a scream that caused her to jump from the bed. The hair on the back of her neck stood straight up and her body became one big goosebump.

Evangeline Duran Fuentes

Spooky Twisties:All things Spooky, here beginThey lay and wait, in books within.They sometimes pass, in open space.Then leave and go, without a trace.Some appear on the spot.Some we know, others not.Sometimes we are afraid to say,“leave us now”, or beg to stay.At times they leave a sign beyond,A gentle breeze, or note from song.Be not afraid, to read story’s close.For in the dark, your spirit goes.

Terri Bertha

We must remember that the mortals prefer plant-life for food, for next time.”The other statue nodded in agreement and replied. “Yes. Every day we learn new things Donkor. These mortals have some funny ways don’t they?” - Quest Two: The Cursed Nile

S.W. Lothian

Don’t worry yourself. It is better that you are cautious and safe than to be accepting and sorry. Trust must be earned. I hope I have now earned yours.

S.W. Lothian

They were being poisoned.

M.L. LeGette

Toad must have been very accustomed to traveling this way, balanced on the back rails of a rushing buggy, but Melena was not. She gripped the sides and white-knuckled the rails with her knapsack sandwiched between her knees. Hazel was clamped onto the roof, grinning like an alligator in the sun. And Toad lounged like a cat.

M.L. LeGette

Mike couldn’t believe that Mr. Mackey’s secret tragedy was connected to his store, and no one had ever told him.“Do you think he’d ever take it back?”t“Why would he? His son was never found, and he still blames your dad for it. I think it’s his way of making himself feel better about the accident. He thinks horror movies are evil or something.”t“That’s stupid. Most kids are more scared of him than they are of horror movies,” Mike said, “He shouldn’t blame my dad.”t“He thinks he’s protecting the kids,” Tim said, rolling his eyes. t“Well, if he is trying to save kids, why is he so mean to us? Everyone’s afraid of him. Even Jack.”t“I don’t know. I guess he’s just a cranky old man. Don’t take it personally. He’s had it rough. He has to stand on that playground everyday knowing that just over that fence, his son’s body is down there somewhere.”t “Then why doesn’t he teach at another school?”t“I don’t know, bud. Sometimes people just like to torture themselves.” - Saving Hascal's Horrors

Laura Smith

Don’t tell Mom, but I think my little emergency last night was a sign. And I was thinking of you when it happened. So, I’m worried that this is a prediction about you. Do you have something big planned? Something dangerous that you’re going to do?”tMike looked away. He didn’t want to lie to her but he also couldn’t tell her his plan. t“Well, whatever it is, don’t do it, okay? You’re going to get the feeling soon too. I know it,” she yawned, “It feels like it’s a long way off, but I’ve never had this strong a reaction before. And now that I’m stuck in bed, I can’t help you…or stop you. So please, whatever you’re doing, let it go, okay? Especially if it’s about the shop. Just let me handle it.”t“I’ll be careful,” he said. t“Huh?” she yawned again. tHe didn’t answer. Her eyelids grew heavy until they closed all the way. Mike lifted the sheet that was turned down from the bed and draped it over her. Then, he left the room, closing the door behind him. - Saving Hascal's Horrors

Laura Smith

He let go of the rope one hand at a time and latched onto Lisa’s hands. Her fingernails dug into his wrists, but her grip was strong after a summer of lifting girls into the air. It was a tug of war battle between his friends and Shawn’s ghost. The wind died down as Shawn gathered all of his energy to pull on Mike. Even though he was terrified of what was happening, Mike knew that Shawn wasn’t trying to hurt him. After all these years, he was still trying to find a way out. Shawn wanted to go home too, and he saw the hope of being rescued falling away. t“Shawn! Please! Let me go!” Mike called over the dying wind, “I’ll get you help! We’ll get you out! Just please! Let me go!” - Saving Hascal's Horrors

Laura Smith

I can’t believe I thought this was going to be boring. This is great!

Denis Markell

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Middle Grade Quotes

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