Quote 1
"Sometimes bad things happen," [Zoë] said to herself. "Sometimes things change. And we have to change too." (27.9)
This seems like a pretty deep to be coming out of the mouth of a five-year-old, and like Enzo, we suspect that someone told Zoë this to help her grapple with the terrible news of her mother's illness and its aftermath.
Quote 2
[Zoë] unfolded a dishcloth that she'd brought from the house. In the dishcloth were scissors, a Sharpie pen, and masking tape. She pulled off the doll's head. She took the kitchen scissors and cut off Barbie's hair, down to the plastic nub. She then drew a line on the doll's skull, all the while whispering softy, "Everything's going to be okay."
When she was done, she tore off a piece of masking tape and put in on the doll's head. She pressed the head back onto the neck stub and laid the doll down. We both stared at it. A moment of silence.
"Now she can go to heaven," Zoë said to me. "And I'll live with Grandma and Grandpa." (21.5-7)
As far as grappling with the illness of a parent goes, maybe this isn't the healthiest way to do it. But it does allow us a peek into Zoë's mindset and see how her grandparents seem to be teaching her to start accepting and even coping with her mother's death.
Quote 3
"I made them love me too much," Zoë said softly, looking into her bowl of melted ice cream. "I should have been bad. I should have made them not want to keep me." (40.29)
Although Zoë doesn't understand the entirety of the situation, she does know that her grandparents and father are fighting over her, and she's able to pull from that, to some degree, that the situation is her fault, even though Denny has done his best to protect her from the reality of the situation. Poor kid.