Noticing Sentences

Lincoln Award Book, 2021 Way too relatable for my students ... I try not to stare at the scarf wound around her head. It's not that I've never seen this before. I've just never seen it live, in person. Especially here in Brookdale, the place crowned three years ago as the "Whitest Town in Maryland." p32 Privilege A human being would apologize. Would at least put the rifle away. but Mr. Danforth lacks the basic human firmware required for apologies. He rooted out those files and deleted them years ago. Being rich means never having to say you're sorry. p68-69 Emphasis mine. Discussion "Well, here's what I've noticed over the years: People-- men, especially-- are quiet for one of four reasons." She hands me the newly full glass and proceeds to tick them on her fingers: "They're hiding something. They're afraid of something. They have nothing to say. They have too much to say. Which is it for you?" p97 "Suck ...

Beautiful  They travel on perfectly straight paths from their broadcast source, and because the Earth is round, it does not take them long to part ways with the ground and head out to the stars. Wouldn't we all, if we had the chance? p1 Is this science? Religion? It is difficult even for scientists and saints to tell the difference between the two. Perhaps it doesn't matter. When you cultivate invisible seeds, you can't expect everyone to agree on the shape of your invisible crops. p2 "Even a small voice is still a voice." p9 Sometimes, when a question is about a secret, people will ask a different but related question, hoping to get an answer that will work for both questions. p13 It was just that Marisita was not sure that saints and witches were very different in the end. p61 This kindness, however, only made the situation worse for Pete. It emphasized that the person who was being cruelest to Pete was actually Pete. p111 But I, Diablo Diablo, thi...

As always, I've tried to avoid spoilers for this book itself, but this may include spoilers for book one, Carry On. American Magickal Culture "It could be anything!" I say. A wraith, a leach, a ghoul. Something specifically American: a gun demon, a prairie mog, one of those sirens who live in wells. Can coyotes drive cars? I know they can play poker, the Mage told me. p127 American Culture And why hasn't something shot us yet? Even toddlers in America have access to guns. p143 Boyfriend Comments I'll be damned and drawn and fucking quartered before I watch some devil-eyes goat feel up my boyfriend right in front of me. p142 Crowley, if this is what it takes to keep Simon in my arms-- gunshots and Quiet Zones and high-speed chases-- I'm here for it. I'll swear to it. I've found my vocation. p148 Other Baz is truly frightening when he's not pretending he's not a vampire. p146 "The Next Blood," he says, "are phy...

Shade And besides, it wasn't like the world was waiting with bated breath to read yet another essay about the importance of characterization in Spoon River Anthology . p22 Description ...that Joaquin's family tree seemed to have way too many scraggly branches and not enough roots, not the kind of roots you would need when the storm was strong. p53 He wished they would go away, because nothing was worse than someone wanting you to talk when the words you needed to say hadn't even been invented yet. p84 It felt a bit like she was heading toward a firing squad, except worse, because she knew she that instead of dying, she was going to have to stay alive through the whole day. And then the next one after that. p97 She said "You're the worst" in the way girls say things when they want boys to think that they're teasing, like, "You're the worse, but I still like you enough to hook up with you, even though you're the emotional equivalent ...

World-building You're not guilty of anything. But these days, actual guilt is an afterthought. p4 Even worse, although David got booted, too, only my parents and I were called in for a lecture about how I should know my place at school, keep my head down, and be grateful for the privilege of attending classes there. p6 Our military is diverse, but not this shiny, new branch. They're all white, it seems. A victory for nostalgic racists longing for the "good old days" of segregated units and separate bathrooms. p47 One detail that's impossible to miss? Just like in the train station, every person with a gun is white, and not white like maybe they're Bosnian-- the kind of white that thinks internment camps are going to make America great again. p64 I wonder what else they've built. What else can they do to us when America isn't looking? p80 Bystanders vs Upstanders I thought our little liberal college town would fight it longer, hold out. S...

*****I am avoiding spoilers for this particular book, but if you want to avoid spoilers for the SERIES, I suggest you do not read this post. LOL Her mother had said she needed to find her bliss. Who'd have thought it would be on an island in the middle of nowhere? p90  (irony) Perhaps it was his choice of famous residence that had brought him to Goddard's attention. Grouseland was, after all, the first brick home in the Indiana Territory. Damn. p200 Nietzsche, aside from having a name that was painfully difficult to spell... p200 (I feel like this is Shusterman putting his own little aside in here-- about having to type that name over and over.) "Maybe because I want you to use your hands for something more than pleasuring yourself." p362 Shade "With all due respect, it sounds like the world has been duped by a very charismatic and self-serving monster." p100 Because, after all, a thousand people gleaned in a mass even was such a small drop i...

LOL Not surprisingly, I haven't taken the breakup well, and I have no plans to take it well in the future. p18 "No one has anything to get up for. Life's pointless and everyone just gets up anyway. That's how the human race works," she says, and hands me a coffee. p19 According to George, it's a truth universally acknowledged that our family is shit at love. p21 I'd had my phone on silent all day and deliberately not checked, because it's a truth universally acknowledge that a watched phone never rings, especially when you're waiting on a text from your ex-girlfriend explaining why she doesn't love you anymore. p53 One of the great things about finishing high school is that you can finally get away from the dickheads. p54 ____________________ "She's my soul mate," I tell her. "Then I'm worried about your soul," she says, and goes back to serving the other customers. p67 ____________________ I'm ...

Description I couldn't believe it. For once I had actually said what I was thinking and something was happening about it. I felt a little flutter in my chest, like that split second when you're peering over the top of the hill on a roller coaster and then the weight grabs you and drags you down, and you're scared but really excited. p28. ________________________________ How do you say you like a thing? You can point to all the good parts. That you like how they ran away from home to a museum. That you like how Claudia packed her clothes in her empty violin case. That they slept in a big antique bed and took baths in the fountain. That they solve a mystery about an old statue. I like all that stuff about From the Mixes-up Files. But none of that is really the reason I've read it thirteen times and still want to read it again. That's something ... bigger. Deeper. More than all those things added together. How do you explain to someone else why a thing matters to...

LOL "For real." It comes out breathless. It's weird-- now I want to prove it. I want some gay ID card to whip out like a cop badge. Or I could demonstrate in other ways. God. I would happily demonstrate. p13 "All history should be taught through rap by Lin-Manuel Miranda." p230 I don't know what comes next. Because Broadway tells me one thing, but Reddit tells me something very different. And no one's advice sees to fit how I feel. p272   Love it Here's my question: If a piece of trash never makes it into the trash can, can you even call it trash? Because let's just imagine-- and this is totally hypothetical-- let's say there's a crumpled shipping label on the floor. Is that trash? What if it's a glass slipper? p18 Description I don't know how people make friends in the summer. There are a million and a half people in Manhattan, but none of them make eye contact unless you already know them. And I don't know ...

Description I only see the top of her Sisterlocks. The rest of her is hidden behind her Nikki Giovanni book. Occasionally she goes "Mmm" at some line the same way my grandma does during a sermon. Poetry's Mrs. Murray's religion. p4 Compliments like that are part of the parental responsibilities she took on when she evicted me from her womb. p9 Ever since that boy got killed, my heart races whenever I see a cop. I could've been him, he could've been me. Luck's the only thing that separated us. p237 Society and Expectations   Every single time I get sent to her, she asks me questions that sound like they cam from some "How to Talk to Statistical Black Children Who Come to Your Office Often" handbook. p7 ______________________ "Carrying the torch for Law, huh?" Not really. More like making my own torch and carrying it. I say, "Yeah," though, because that's what I'm supposed to say. It's part of being ro...

Description Now I'm obsessing. And guilty. She has this uncanny gift for delivering guilt tied up in a bow, and without fail, I accept it. p85 I drive through town and the houses that sprouted up overnight where once there were only cornfields. p185 LOL "You know, we're always hearing stories of our girls who live far from their parents and go with thse boys and ... get... into... trouble. Some of them even eat pork." p129 Parents and Kids and Expectations p130 Beautiful "Because it's important. Because a marriage certificate doesn't bestow maturity. And even you have to admit that Maya is much savvier than you were at her age. Let her find her new world, too, as you did all those years ago." p131 mother-daughter relationship p244 (Not including text since it's potentially a spoiler.) That you are here-- that life exists and identity, That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse . Walt Whitman, Leaves of Gr...

Advice Quit thinking negatively. Don't build more walls to block what's possible. Crash through, Noah. Crash the heck through. p23 Everything's not political. Actually, everything is. You either uphold the status quo, or you see what's wrong and try to change it. p40 I want to be a full human. I love new ideas. And new people. I want her to know I respect and honor her culture. Real diversity begins at the dinner table. Our humanity, Noah, will rise with out breaking of daily bread. You  must-- p403 Funny HE KNOWS EVERYTHING. He's the one who hipped me to the podcast. Hipped? Who are you, Shaft now? p28 (Did they know Shaft was having another movie come out when they wrote this?) 10:04 pm I WAS DRIVING A SCHOOL BUS AT YOUR AGE. YOU'RE OLD ENOUGH TO START TAKING CARE OF YOURSELF. P136 Noah, the struggle is real out here in these mean streets. Walt, you live in a gated community. p203 Interesting Facts What do you think I ...

World-Building He'd destroyed cultures, destroyed invaluable knowledge, destroyed so much of what had once been bright and good. His people should revolt. p69 Find the evil in the castle... But the only evil thing in this world is the man ruling it. p219 "Marriage is a legal contract-- it's not a sacred thing. As Crown Prince, you should have given up such fanciful notions. What if you're ordered to marry for the sake of an alliance? Would you start a war because of your romantic ideals?" p231 The week surrounding Yulemas was a time of relaxation, a time to celebrate the carnal pleasures that kept one warm on a winter's night. Women wore their hair down; some even refused to don a corset. It was a holiday to feast on the fruits of the harvest and those of the flesh. p259 Gender She glared. "I hate women like that. They're so desperate for the attention of men that they'd willingly betray and harm members of their own sex. And we claim ...

#LouderForThePeopleInTheBack But when we make assumptions about any historical figure, we rewrite the past without even knowing it.p1 The version of history we learn in school puts a straight cisgender mask on almost everyone. p1 Recognizing the world's rich history of queerness helps reduce homophobia, biphobia, and transphobia, and helps welcome queer identities to the mainstream with love and acceptance. p2 Why homosexuals were one of the colonists' most popular scapegoats remains unclear. It wasn't just a bad interpretation of the Bible, since colonial states didn't outlaw greediness and other things Christianity forbids. p8 It matters that we say and demonstrate how queerness itself is as old as time, because people still find it counterintuitive to their conceptions of history. p213 Thinking about the amount of progress yet to be accomplished can be overwhelming, but when we put it in the context of all of time , we see that we've been going in the...

Illinois connection! Every summer, Leda's family forced her to come on their annual visit "home" to Podunk, middle-of-nowhere Illinois. ... If she'd done what they did-- moved from Danville to New York as newlyweds... p11 LOL It sucked sometimes, being best friends with the girl too flawless to come from nature. Leda, on the other hand, probably came from a night of tequila shots on her parents' anniversary. p12 World-building Rylin was a little impressed to find it full of illegal old paper greenbacks, which still circulated wildly through the black markets since, unlike nanodollars, they were untraceable. p113 Buy a pack of grapefruit M&M's... p125 Cord had once asked why her job even existed, why they didn't just have bots at each monorail stop like they did at upper-floor lift stations. "Because I'm cheaper than a bot," she told him, which was true. p184 The three hour train ride ... [from New York to Paris] p187 Two...

********I have tried to stay away from any spoilers for THIS book (except where marked), but if you have not read Caraval , you may be spoiled.******* Freedom/ Deception "What's the point of all this glorious freedom if we don't enjoy it? Our father wins if we keep living as if we're still trapped beneath his heavy fists." p19 Legendary by Stephanie Garber Saying something was for someone else's own good was almost always another way of justifying something wrong. p41 Legendary by Stephanie Garber It didn't last nearly long enough. But it upended her. It made her wonder if jewels hidden away safely in boxes sometimes longed to be stolen by thieves-- because now he was definitely stealing her heart, and she wanted him to take even more. p362-363  Legendary by Stephanie Garber LOL/ Sass "You know how I feel about boys who are prettier than me." p59 Legendary by Stephanie Garber "You know," Tella mused, "if I didn...

Another Lincoln Award finalist for 2019. Just a beautiful description I guess when you spend a life riding waves-- knowing that the ocean is heartless and millions of times stronger than you are, but still trusting that you're skilled enough or brave enough or charmed enough to survive it--you become indebted to the people who don't make it. p30 We Are Okay by Nina LaCour I have only just learned how to be here. Life is paper-thin and fragile. Any sudden change could rip it wide-open. p93 We Are Okay by Nina LaCour I was given cakes and cookies and rides to school. I was given songs and dinners at a table with brass candlesticks. I was given a man with a sensitive heart and a devious sense of humor and enough skill at cards to win me a year of private college-- tuition and room and board-- and I took all of those good things and told myself they made us special. Told myself we were a family the way Mabel and Ana and Javier were, told myself that we weren't missi...

Another amazing Lincoln Award finalist. And again, another book that I probably wouldn't pick up on my own. I cannot more highly recommend using the list in your classroom and even getting involved in the committee. Or finding what your own state has and being involved. Your state doesn't have one? Start it. Be yourself "Seriously? That's what you think I should be relegating my brain space to? Looking nice? Like, if I don't make the effort to look beautiful, my entire existence is nullified? Nothing else matters-- not my intellect, not my personality or my accomplishments; my hope and dreams mean nothing if I'm not wearing eyeliner ?" p6 When Dimple Met Rishi by Sanhya Menon Character Description "Look man, I know you... you and I don't always see eye to eye on everything. You're, like, some weird thirty-year-old teenager. But don't you think you're rushing things? First MIT, and now this girl and Insomnia Con... I mean, ...