Laurie Halse Anderson: Making

“Art without emotion its like chocolate cake without sugar. It makes you gag.”

“The stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking/stuffing/puking didn't make her skinny, it made her cry.”

“I want to make a memorial for our turkey. Never has a bird been so tortured to provide such a lousy dinner.”

“I make it through the first two weeks of school without a nuclear meltdown.”

“They yell at me because I can’t see what they see. Nobody can explain to me why my eyes work different than theirs. Nobody can make it stop.”

“No, I am never setting foot in this house again it scares me and makes me sad and I wish you could be a mom whose eyes worked but I don't think you can.”

“Too much sun after a Syracuse winter does strange things to your head, makes you feel strong, even if you aren't.”

“Don't expect to make a difference unless you speak up for yourself.”

“Make it bend — trees are flexible, so they don’t snap. Scar it, give it a twisted branch — perfect trees don’t exist. Nothing is perfect. Flaws are interesting. Be the tree.”

“I look at my homely sketch. It doesn't need anything. Even through the river in my eyes I can see that. It isn't perfect and that makes it just right.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing in the next five minutes and she has the next ten years figured out. I’ll worry about making it out of ninth grade alive. Then I’ll think about a career path.”