Keep Holding On, By Susane Colasanti

Page 3: "How cool would it be if differences were celebrated? And the more different you were, the better? Fitting in would be a totally foreign concept."

Page 7: "I want to help make the world a better place...Because if we're not improving the world in some way, then what's the point?"  "Things will get better after this. They have to."

Page 12: "How could would it be if my class were a place where students could be themselves?...There wouldn't be all this stress and nervousness involved." "You never know when inspiration will strike."

Page 13: "If you see someone being bullied, make it stop. Why is that so hard for us to do?"

Page 20: "Julian's designs give you the impression that there are much better ways to live. His philosophy is that your home should be a unique reflection of your personality."

Page 22: "Every single day is an opportunity to improve your life."

Page 24: "School would be way more tolerable if everyone wasn't so afraid to be who they really are. And if everyone else would let them."

Page 37: "Seeing is not believing. What's in front of you is not necessarily the entire story."

Page 62: "And I mean, what, like I've never done anything stupid? We all do things we regret. my past is packed with things I wish I could take back. And there are lots of things I'm afraid of. Fear is understandable."

Page 63: "I love how he never seems to care what anyone thinks." "Trying to ignore a bully when you're bothered by what they're doing is completely different from not caring. They can tell you're trying really hard to ignore them when you care. They know they're getting to you, which makes them want to harass you even more."

Page 75: "I just don't want to rush into anything before I absolutely know for sure that I'm ready."

Page 76: "It's the road to freedom. It's the road to a better life, to a place where dreams have a chance to become reality."

Page 78: "Maybe she thinks that if she keeps saying she's okay, her emotions will believe her. Like how if you smile enough times you can trick your brain into thinking you're happy." "If I had a pet, I would be constantly worrying that something horrible was about to happen to him. I wouldn't be able to just enjoy the time we had together like a normal person."

Page 80: "Trying to make things look nice takes a lot of effort."

Page 82: "I don't Simon sees school the same way we do."

Page 86: "It's so weird how connecting with someone in a different setting can bring out this whole other side of them. Like how certain places inspire us to act in ways we normally wouldn't."

Page 89: "How could tons of styled food be there for anyone who could afford it, while people around the world were dying because they didn't even have clean water?"

Page 106: "My shows and books are an instant mood adjuster."

Page 112: "That's the thing about life. You can never trade yours in for a better one (you just have to make it better yourself)."

Page 120: "I wish emotional bruises healed like physical ones."

Page 121: "Making things happen behind the scenes of a publication,..., is kind of cool." "Even though his family is crazy wealthy, he's not conceited at all. He's one of the few kids around here who hasn't been brainwashed by excessive privilege."

Page 122: "It's the truth. Do yourself a favor and start believing it."

Page 123: "Everything will work out the way it's supposed to."

Page 134: "You can violate someone's trust and expect there to be no consequences."

Page 136: "...sometimes I think about how I'm seeing things differently from everyone else because I'm the only one looking at everything from my eyes. Every other person in this room is seeing a different configuration of the room. They're seeing me the way I can't. The more you think about perception like that, the weirder it gets." "...no two people can see the world in the same way. No matter what you're looking at, no one is seeing it the same way you are."

Page 141: "I guess there are somethings you just can't cover up. No matter how hard you try."

Page 142: "You can choose choose to be suffocated. Or you can find a way to keep breathing."

Page 149: "I can tell she's asking because she cares."

Page 150: "Worst time ever. But it won't always be like this. I know that doesn't help much right now, but it's something to hold on to. If I'd stopped believing that my life would eventually get better, I don't think I would have survived..." "I wish things were easier for you, Noelle. But all of the pain you're feeling right now will make you stronger. Trust me: that strength will make you a better person. Then you can help other people who aren't as strong."

Page 154: "I should've done a lot of things I'll never get another chance to do."

Page 157: "We were both careful not to let our secret agony show, even when we were screaming inside. Why didn't I do something to let her know she's not alone? That she wasn't alone. I wish I'd told her about The Road. About how it can lead to a better life if we keep holding on. If she had just held on a little longer..."

Page 161: "And whether it remains a complete disaster or starts getting better is up to me. I can't control everything, but there are some things I can change. We're products of our choices. I can make a choice to do more than just survive. Which is why I'm going to start shaping my life into the one I want."

Page 163: "You don't want him to get too close because you're afraid he's not going to like you anymore, right?"

Page 166: "And maybe I can find a way to start making things better now instead of waiting until later."

Page 169: "Love is never guaranteed. Love is as risk we take because we hope it will make us happy."

Page 171: "It's wild how unexpected experiences can shape your life in ways you never saw coming." "The piece I wrote is about how we all affect the people around us, whether or not we realize it. It's about how everything is connected. And how each one of us can influence the fate of others by our own actions."

Page 176: "The kids here look like they're having deep conversations about meaningful things."

Page 177: "It's charged and laid back at the same time, you know?"

Page 181: "Like people who live their lives with no regrets." "Let me try. Let me be the one you can count on."

Page 183: "I heard that every time you access a memory, you rewrite it a little bit. So our memories change over time. This is one memory I want to keep intact for as long as I can."

Page 187: "Being done means not hiding anymore. I t means not letting fear or shame dictate my decisions."

Page 188: "I have to trust that there are people in my life who actually care about me. And I have to let them help."

Page 191: "No one should be ashamed to speak up. Shame makes it easy for neglect and abuse and bullying to stay huddled together..."

Page 193: "Top 5 ways people can surprise you: 5. Just when you think they've given up on you, they prove that they never will. 4. they find a way to speak up after staying silent for so long. 3. They defend you when you least expect it. 2. By showing you how life can get better now. 1. By helping you find a place to belong."

Page 194: "If you feel stuck, you have the power to unstick yourself." "The good kind of motion, where you're moving forward. Where you refuse to let a bad day stop you. Where you're committed to keep going no matter what."

Page 199: "I just have to understand where she's coming from." "Someone who sees the true me and likes what he sees. I love that he wants to take care of me. And now I'm ready to let him."

Page 201: "No matter what happens, never ever give up. Happiness is not limited. There's enough for everyone. You can start right now, today, to move toward a happier life. Your life is shaped by your choices. Make ones that will help you get where you want to go. Find your place to belong. It may not be a physical place. At least, not yet. Maybe your place is somewhere you let your imagination take you. Maybe it's your vision of the way your ideal life will be." "You're whole world will open up in ways you kept believing were possible. and you'll be so happy you held on long enough to make it there."

Page 202: "Let's own what makes us unique. Let's refuse to allow haters to stop us from moving forward. Let's turn our dreams into reality. Starting now."

We'll Always Have Summer, By Jenny Han ☆

Page 34: "Not telling is the same thing as lying."

Page 44: "But just because you bury something, that doesn't mean it stops existing. Those feelings, they'd been there all along. All that time, I had to just face it."

Page 45: "Firsts were important. But I was pretty sure lasts were even more important." "...he was going to be my last and my every and my always."

Page 46: "...a piece that she would always treasure, but that was all, because history is just that. History."

Page 54: "We were growing up. We were still figuring out how to be in each other's lives without being everything to each other."

Page 56: "I know that I hurt us, that I'm going to have to work really hard to get you to trust me again. I'll do whatever it takes if you'll let me."

Page 58: "I didn't want to see a mark on his face one day and not know how it got there." "All I could think was, if we just get through this storm, we will make it. He'd made mistakes, I had too. But we loved each other, and that was what mattered."

Page 59: "That day, without another word about it, we decided to leave the past in the past. The future was where we were headed."

Page 61: "Remember, remember, or the dream will slip away forever...And then I had it... I let out a sigh. I felt so relieved."

Page 64: "...it made me feel that even with all the changes over the past few years, he was still the same boy and I was still the same girl."

Page 73: "You care too much about what other people think." "Friendship in college was different that way. You spend all this time with people, sometimes every day, every meal. There was no hiding who you were in front of your friends."

Page 116: "I started seeing things more clearly. I just needed to separate emotion from reason."

Page 119: "But you're my little sister. You come first." "If you guys love each other that much, you can wait a couple of years to be together."

Page 149: "He knew almost everything about me and still loved me."

Page 161: "There hadn't been one specific moment. It was like gradually waking up. You go from being asleep to the space between dreaming and awake and then into consciousness. It's a slow process, but when you're awake, there's no mistaking it. There was no mistaking that it had been love."

Page 162: "You're an honest guy, Conrad. But you don't let people in. It's impossible to get close to you."

Page 181: "And then I despised him for not being perfect. For being human."

Page 187: "She was an upbeat kind of person, naturally cheerful, like Jere. If there was a bright side, Belly would find it."

Page 210: "He's family. Family's family. Never forget that..."

Page 244: "I never felt more alive. Anger, sadness, joy. He made me feel it all. No one else had that kind of effect on me. No one."

Page 245: "When [he] told a girl he loved her, he meant it. A girl could believe in that. A girl could maybe even bet her whole life on it."

Page 253: "...knowing without me having to tell her."

Page 257: "If it was nothing, you would have told me about it. Instead you kept it a secret. After all that stuff you said to me about trust, you kept that to yourself."

Page 260: "...of all days, I should look like me."

Page 274: "They all seemed to know exactly where they were going. Some clear destination in mind. Home."

Page 286: "There are moments in every girl's life that are bigger than we know at the time. You look back, you say, That was one of those life-changing, fork-in-the-end moments and I didn't even see it coming. I had no idea. And then there are the moments that you know are big. That whatever you do next, there will be an impact. your life could go in one of two directions."

All I Need, By Susane Colasanti

Page 10: "Sometimes I miss how simple life used to be." "When did everything get so complicated?"

Page 11: "I hate how everyone's stuck in front of screens all the time. It's like people don't want to interact with the real world anymore." "Every collage tells a story in such a unique way. They're like pieces of a puzzle or chapters in a book. They can be subtle and speak volumes at the same time. I love how the final effect is greater than the sum of its parts."

Page 12: "Standing here..., I'm overwhelmed with possibility. May I really can have the life I want someday."

Page 13: "...Everyone has their thing...No one is perfect. You can work on one problem, but even if you solve it there's always going to be another problem. So your 'thing' is your biggest problem at any time."

Page 37: "College is awesome in so many ways. The freedom. The new people. Getting to know yourself in a way that's impossible in high school." "Inspiration is everywhere. The energy feeds my soul."

Page 39: "I'm living in the Now. The Now is all we ever have."

Page 45: "It must be awesome to know what you want to do. I know that I want to make the world a better place. I just don't exactly how yet."

Page 51: "You have to take a risk if you want things to change." "But it's scary every time you get closer to someone... No matter who started it."

Page 52: "We've all been there. Feeling like things will never get better." "Following your heart means allowing the possibility of finding true love to be stronger than your fear of rejection."

Page 55: "When you have a strong connection with someone instantly, when it feels like you've known them forever even though you've just met, the intensity is undeniable."

Page 58: "She makes me feel like when good things happen to me, they're happening to her, too."

Page 68: "...It's like people don't appreciate meaningful connections anymore."

Page 70: "This..makes me think about how different we all are. What makes one person obsess over stamp collecting while someone else has never even noticed stamps? Are our proclivities mostly due to environmental influence? Is a lifetime love of figurine collecting genetic? The awesome thing is that no matter how esoteric your interests are, you can probably find at least one other person who feels the same way."

Page 72: "When other people see my work, I want them to feel the exact same way I did when I was creating it."

Page 81: "...I like making you happy."

Page 85: "...I get how fun it could be. It's just not for me."

Page 90: "We'll go our separate ways again. Except this time will be different. This time we'll stay together...Tomorrow isn't goodbye. Tomorrow is only see you soon."

Page 93: "It's really about changing your lifestyle. You have to take a holistic approach if you want to look better and feel better."

Page 95: "Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Share the unedited version of your lives?"

Page 96: "I think I'll just go with the flow. Say it when it feels right. The worst would be if it sounds forced."

Page 122: "But Skye is different."

Page 104: "I'm not sure what I want to do yet... I don't know what I want to be, but I know what I don't want to be. Typical. Average. I want more from my life than to sleepwalk through the expected motions. I want my life to really mean something. I want it to be amazing."

Page 135: "She's in that frustrating/euphoric/traumatic new relationship phase of uncertainty where all you want to do is impress the boy. Even if it compromises who you are. Even if it turns you into someone you don't recognize. Why do girls get like that? It's like we'd rather be who we think the boy wants us to be instead of actually being ourselves."

Page 137: "Just because I have less relationship experience doesn't mean I don't know what I'm talking about." "I guess when you're carrying so much weight around, you never know when it might get too heavy to keep carrying." "

Page 140: " 'I hate all this stress...When did everything start sucking so hard?' 'When we weren't looking.' "

Page 144: "The thing about saying 'I love you' is that there's no going back once you say it." "Trusting that we'll make this work isn't easy. But it's what I have to do if we're going to move forward."

Page 163: "You can choose not to be in the middle anymore."

Page 169: "It took her a while to trust that she's enough for him. But she finally got there. She realized that if she can't be herself around him, what's the point?"

Page 171: "But you tolerate the unknown because what you do know is powerful."

Page 176: "Skye needs to know more of me in order to understand who I really am. The parts I was showering her weren't enough. If I'm going to trust her with my whole heart, I can't hide parts I don't like. I have to trust that she'll still love me with all of my flaws."

Page 183: "I can't wait to figure out what I want to do with my life. Who I really am. How I'll make the world a better place."

Page 186: "The last thing I want to do is hide anything... Especially after realizing how important it is to share all the parts of my life with her."

Page 194: "He's still scared of being hurt...he keeps holding back. It's like her can't share his life with me completely." "We all have baggage. But at some point, you have to open those bags and confront what's inside."

Page 195: "It's weird that we're dealing with all these changes. If someone told me this would be our lives two years ago, I wouldn't have believed them."

Page 196: "She makes everything look so perfect. So easy."

Page 197: "We've had our share of challenges. There will always be challenges in a relationship. The important thing is working as a team to overcome them." "It is easier with the right person. A good test of a relationship is how well you both deal with challenges. If one person is more invested, it shows. If you're with the wrong person, it feels likes too much work...If you're unhappy more than you're happy, it's not the relationship for you."

Page 199: "Guess it goes to show that when you have enough passion for something, anything is possible."

Page 201: "All I want to do now is follow my heart. In all aspects of life." "Desperation isn't my most attractive quality." "You came late to the realization that you belong here. Nevertheless, it's clear that you belong."

Page 207: "Baggage is emotional turmoil that accumulates from painful experiences, right? Who hasn't had at least one painful experience?"

Page 210: "Things happen that you can't explain to anyone else. Sometimes you can't even explain them to yourself. The connection you have defies all logic."

Incredibly Alice, By Phyllis Reynolds Naylor

Page 2: "Was I afraid to compete, or was I just genuinely not interested?"

Page 6: "'This is a make-each-moment-count time, everybody, because who knows where we'll be a year from now?'" "And I wondered why, just as in physics, for every action, there's an equal and opposite reaction; for every new thing I looked forward to after high school, there seemed to be some opposite feeling I could hardly describe..."

Page 24: "There ought to be a recess. A time-out. Some plateau you could count on where absolutely nothing happened, good or bad, and you could catch your breath. When did that happen? After your married? Had your children? Retired? Never?"

Page 28: "It always amazes me how some of the most beautiful girls don't even know they're gorgeous enough."

Page 32: "I want a guy who loves all of me, not just a part. 'It's a package deal'..."

Page 37: "...I'd feel I'd be letting them down. I just... what if I'm saying no because I'm afraid I'll fail?...And how do I know if I might be refusing for the wrong reasons?"

Page 38: "I keep telling myself that if I say no, I'm closing a door...and I will have lost the chance..., to have that honor."

Page 40: "You guys are good at hiding feelings from each other."

Page 41: "...It's a lot less scary when you recognize what you're feeling instead of trying to hide it from yourself." "Remind yourself of the things you've faced in the past and how you managed to get through them." "'I guess you sort of have to take a deep breath and tell yourself to get over it...' 'No. Not get over it. Get through it. Go into it staying up front with yourself and remind yourself of all the ways you have of coping.'"

Page 44: "Of I'm missing something. But I've never Taj Mahal either. I never played the violin. I never wrote a novel or learned to fly or met a president...I think, 'we're all incomplete in some way.' I don't know anyone who has done everything she wanted to do in life."

Page 65: "But sometimes we find out we're a lot braver than we think."

Page 71: "Just do it! I told myself. Get up there and take a chance...I was doing this for me. I'd made a decision, and right or wrong, it was mine."

Page 98: "If you want to meet a guy who shares your interests, get involved in things you love."

Page 127: " 'Life is what happens when you're planning something else.' "

Page 140: "You open your mind to the world, Alice. That's what makes you you."

Page 242: "The secret is to make a list before you turn in all you have to do the next day so you won't forget something. Then tell yourself that those things are off-limits once you get int bed. You'll deal with them tomorrow."

Page 144: " 'What if I get so nervous that I throw up?'....'That's what custodians are for, Alice.' "

Page 190: "That's me--always jumping ahead. Planning my life weeks, months, years ahead instead of savoring each minute of every day."

Page 200:...--about how you can be curious and intellectual and all the rest right where you are at the moment. You didn't have to go to someplace big."

Page 202: "And it's okay to feel sad along with happy, loss along with gain, regret along with excitement. It's part of the process. Expected, in fact."

Page 204: "How could you ever try anything new if you had to be good at it first?"

Page 205: "But maybe we make time for the things that we like best."

Page 220: "I just get annoyed when people aren't honest with me"

Page 235: "If only the here and now could last forever..."

Page 250: "I had a checklist of things I needed to complete for every class before finals, and I set myself on automatic."

Page 252: "You want [him] to come back to you because he wants to, not because he said he would."

Page 277: "She thanked our parents for all they had done for us and said that graduation was a fork in the road in many ways, but we would be choosing the best parts of our parents to take along with us on life's journey, leaving the rest behind,...And it was this fork in the road, this choosing, these choices, that would, hopefully, make the world a better place."

The Moon and More, By Sarah Dessen

Page 86: "But as was so often the case, it was the one person missing who you thought about more than the ones who were right in front of you."

Page 131: "Hearing this, I felt a strange mix of annoyance and shame. Like when you hear something you don't want to be true, but have a feeling probably is."

Page 143: "And like most times I found myself with hard choices, I just wished there was something clear and easy, right in between."

Page 147: "It's funny the things you remember."

Page 175: "As long as you were moving, you were always going somewhere."

Page 180: "'...But you take the bad to get to the great. That's just how it works. Right?'"

Page 192: "'Demarcation?'...'It means a clear separation between two things... A solid end before a clean beginning. No murky borders. Clarity.'"

Page 218: "...there was a comfort in there being no question, no room for doubt."

Page 232: "In between ahd high above, I did all I could to soak up the stillness while it lasted."

Page 237: "'It's John Wayne.'Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday.'"

Page 238: "I don't know you, I thought. And yet I do. It was the weirdest feeling."

Page 244: "'Well,...someone's gotta be first to buck the trend, right?'"

Page 254: "There are just moments you look up from any once place and realize, suddenly, you have no idea how you got there."

Page 265: "It struck at something deep and primal in me, flipping a switch I couldn't reach no matter how I contorted myself."

Page 282: "It was such a weird thing how a breakup stretched much wider than you expected. You didn't just lose a person, but their entire world as well."

Page 292: "'You're special, Emaline. You're not just any other girl.'" "All this time, I'd seen it from the other side, as a way of focusing on all the things I wasn't. But to him, to be different was the better choice, even ideal. Yet again, he was giving me another view, and I liked how I looked from here."

Page 306: "Maybe it was just part of growing up with someone. Once you have a rhythm and stay with it long enough, it's not hard to find again."

Page 316: "And right then, while I still could, it was exactly where I wanted to be."

Page 326: "we were willing to do so much for the people we loved, even if it meant hurting ourselves. Maybe that, in the end, was what love--all kinds--was really all about."

Page 328: "'...Just a way of giving my older stuff another chance. I mean, an opportunity to do things differently, with the benefit of hindsight? That's a hard thing to turn down.'"

Page 329: "'I'm starting to think, though, that some things never get that. They replay, and all. So at some point you have to make peace with it as it is, not keep waiting for a chance to change it.'" "'Just because you don't get a chance right when you want or expect it doesn't mean it won't come. Fate doesn't punch a time clock or consult a schedule.'"

Page 337: "'I'm driven. I don't settle. If I see something better within reach, I go for it...Risk is part of ambition...'"

Page 345: "'...The mistakes you make now count. Not for everything, and not forever. But they do matter, and they shape you. If you take nothing else from what I've been through, at least remember this: make your choices well. Because you'll always be accountable for them. That's what being an adult is all about.'"

Page 352: "'Disappointment, is part of life. Just like change.'"

Page 353: "'But from there, I can go anywhere. It's supposed to be a start, not a finish.'" "'You have no idea how one bad choice, one stupid mistake, can change everything for you. And once it's done,  believe me: it's done. But the sick part is, you'll still spend your whole life trying to fix it.'"

Page 356: "Worse, I had no idea where to go, or anyone who could understand."

Page 381: "Then again, I kind of admire his ability to go for what he wanted. I agonized and worried before making the safest movie; Theo saw his opportunity and took it..."

Page 410: "A reminder that not everyone is what they seem right at first glance."

Page 435: "The thing is, you can't always have the best of everything. Because for a life to be real, you need it all: good and bad, beach and concrete, the familiar and the unknown, big talkers and small towns."