I need a new friend. I need a friend, period. Not a true friend, nothing close or share clothes or sleepover giggle giggle yak yak. Just a pseudo-friend, disposable friend. Friend as accessory. Just so I don't feel and look so stupid.

You'd be shocked at how many adults are really dead inside - walking through their days with no idea who they are, just waiting for a heart attack or cancer of a Mack truck to come along and finish the job. It's the saddest thing I know.

          ~ Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson

Sooner or later a time comes when it's all the same whether you talk or not, so you might as well shut up.

Living here day after day, you think it's the center of the world.

You're young and the world is yours. And I'm old. I don't want to hear you talk anymore. I want to hear others talk about you.

 ~Words of wisdom from Alfredo, Cinema Paradiso

Life isn't like in the movies. Life... is much harder.

My favorite chapter books when I was younger were by Carolyn Haywood - "B" is for Betsy and Eddie and His Big Deals. The stories took place in school, in Betsy's home, and in Eddie's neighbrohood. They had families and ate dinner and waited for the bus. THey were normal families without unicorns or fairy princesses, but the stories were magical to me. When I read those books, it was as if I was wrapped in a warm hug. I saw all the things that I loved and lived - my neighborhood, my friends, and my school. The only thing I didn't see was me.

I wrote [this book] because it was the book I wished I had had when I was growing up, a book that had someone like me in it.

     ~Grace Lin, "Author's Note", Year of the Dog

Cows moo, ducks quack, and a Chinese dog goes "wang wang."