“I'm so disgusting,' I try to argue, but his hands and his voice and his marble mother's eyes won't let it be true anymore. 'No,' he says. 'You're beautiful.” — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Grace,' my mother tries, just before my frozen hot chocolate comes. I don't answer her. Later, while she's waiting for her credit card back from the waitress, she says, 'I'm sorry.” — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Secret Saturdays ought to be required reading at middle schools everywhere. Maldonado gives us both voice and heart. His young characters navigate a challenging… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“I'm so disgusting,' I try to argue, but his hands and his voice and his marble mother's eyes won't let it be true anymore.… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“He apologized when I was twelve. He was crying. I don't like to remember that. I like to remember the time he spelled and… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Grace,' my mother tries, just before my frozen hot chocolate comes. I don't answer her. Later, while she's waiting for her credit card back… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“I shrug, and then we sit awhile without saying anything. Then he goes, 'Where'd you learn to fight like that, anyway?' I start to… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Nah,' I tell her after a while. 'He is more like a brother, you know?' The good kind. The kind with the purple teeth.” — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Time is tricky. You have whole months, even years, when nothing changes a speck, when you don’t go anywhere or do anything or think… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“If I could be small again, Monique told me at the playground's fence, slurring her words and watching Caitlin sob, I'd want to have… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“China puts her hand on my palm. Her fingernails are baby blue with miniature clouds airbrushed at the tips. She saved three weeks of… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“Sonia, every dog does not bite, nor does each bee sting. For each schoolmate who insults you, there must be fifty who do not.… — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
“I start laughing. You have to laugh. Life is just funny sometimes. As long as you remember.” — E.R. Frank Copy Share Image
