There’s no such thing as a kid who hates reading. There are kids who love reading, and kids who are reading the wrong books.
Let’s just say that if these scientist had been using their brilliance for good instead of evil, cars would run off water vapor and leave fresh compost behind them; no one would be hungry; no one would be ill; all buildings would be earthquake-, bomb-, and flood-proof; and the world’s entire economy would have collapsed and been replaced by one based on the value of chocolate.
Unfortunately, every time someone said “debriefing,” the entire flock had one image: someone’s tighty-whities disappearing in a flash. We were smothering our giggles, but it was getting harder. Coupled with the whole “naval this, and naval that,” with its undeniable belly-button connotations, we were essentially turning into a sugar-jacked, sleep-deprived flock of incoherent, silly, recombinant-DNA goofballs. This was not going to end well.
The idea for Maximum Ride come from the earlier books of mine called When the Wind Blows and The Lake House, which also feature a character named Max who escapes from a quiet despicable school. Most of the similarities end there. Max and the other kids in Maximum Ride are not the same Max and kids featured in those two books. nor do Frannie and Kit play any part in Maximum Ride. I hope you enjoy the ride anyways.
Purple is such a twisted, complex color – it conveys the passion of red, the sadness of blue, the depravity of black. Purple is neither happy nor sad. It is pain and despair but longing, too – fiery desire, beaten and bruised but struggling onward, determined to overcome, to move forward rather than retreat.
You know how most people dread a birthday... Well, I feel the exact opposite. I feel that every day is an extraordinary gift. Just to be here, and especially to be here with you.
In this family, we always celebrate each other’s birthdays. I don’t care if you’re four or fourteen or forty and scattered around the world. We gotta stick by each other, okay? And meals- as long as you live under the same roof, you have at least one meal a day together. I don’t care if it’s a dreaded hot dog in front of the dastardly TV as long as you’re all there. -Maeve Bennett.
You can’t tell which way the train went by looking at the tracks.
Regret is a waste of time.
Like we were just jagged puzzle pieces that made no sense alone but together we fit perfectly. That’s what life is supposed to be like for normal people right? You find that other piece that matches yours that completes yours. And you make the jags and the crevices fit, even if they don’t go in perfectly smooth, even if they require a few adjustments. You don’t demand perfection you make it work and appreciate the parts that fit instead of obsessing about the small angles that don’t.
Memory is all I have now.
What is a lie? It’s a distortion of reality, presented as reality.
I smiled, sipped deliciously at my drink, and made a new rule for myself: if life hands you a compliment, take it.
Remembering pain is how you learn never to let the cause of it happen again.
Until now, I never noticed how much fantasy had to do with reality.
Think about it. When the end comes, will you be buried in the arms of the one you love? Of the one who knew you your whole life, who loved you your whole life? The only person who could really and truly love you like you needed to be loved? I hope so.
Sheep!” Angel cried, catching sight of some fluffy brown wool. “Anne is quite the animal lover,” Fang said to me as we followed Angel. “Horses, sheep, goats. Chickens. Pigs.” “Yeah,” I said. “I wonder who’s for dinner?” He flashed one of his rare smiles at me, and it was like the sun coming out. I felt my cheeks get hot and strode on ahead.
I was speechless. Which is, as you know, very rare.
Because today after all, is all we knew.
I’m in shape... Round’s a shape.