How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
Dicey stared at the woman, at the heavy mottled flesh of her face. She thought maybe Millie wasn’t very smart at all. She’d never thought of that before. (1.51)
Millie’s been running her grocery store for many years, so it comes as a surprise to Dicey that it’s a struggle for her to do it. Just because someone’s successful at something doesn’t mean they find it easy. And just because someone struggles with reading doesn't mean they're not smart.
Quote #2
Maybeth went right to the battered upright piano and picked out the tune she had been singing in the kitchen. She searched for notes that harmonized with the melody lines. Dicey watched her for a while, trying to figure out how to explain about fractions. (1.133)
Here’s a fun question: how could you explain about fractions using music? There's gotta be a way.
Quote #3
They’d spent the first three weeks on diagramming and now they were going to read some stories. Dicey was sorry the diagramming was finished. She liked the precision of it. Besides, it was easy. (2.2)
Reading comprehension can be a lot more difficult than understanding the mechanics of sentence structure, but when you have both skills, you can create masterpieces. Raise your hand if you think Dicey has the makings of a writer.
Quote #4
"I thought they were smart," Dicey insisted. "Like you."
He shook his head. "Not like me," he said. "I thought they might be, but they aren’t." (2.95-96)
James has a gift—his intelligence—but it's more of a curse than a blessing. You'd think being smart would be an asset, but when you're that young, and when kids are that cruel, smarts make you stand out, and not in a good way. What's truly sad here, though, is James's loss of hope. He had hoped that for once he'd fit in with the other kid geniuses, but he's still a foot smarter than the whole lot of 'em.
Quote #5
"Take it easy, girl," Gram said. Her eyes were laughing at Dicey. "The kind of lessons he was talking about were special lessons […] Lessons for someone who is talented." (2.107-109)
Check out Dicey over there with her fists balled up, ready to fight. We’re glad she has Gram to advocate for Maybeth’s needs in a slightly less butt-kicking way.
Quote #6
"Because I never learned how to read, not properly. I can’t even read a newspaper. You didn’t know that, did you. You didn’t know what a stupid old woman you were working for." (3.58)
Millie’s view of herself is pretty heartbreaking. The way we see ourselves and the way others see us is often very, very different, and it usually works in our favor. But in her case, not so much.
Quote #7
"When I was explaining fractions, she didn’t learn anything," Dicey said. "But I had the feeling—if I could do it in a different way, then she would." (4.189)
Go Dicey go! Nowadays, educators talk a lot about different styles of learning, but back in 1982, Dicey was kind of a visionary. She's willing to buck conventions and think outside the box.
Quote #8
"Well, Maybeth sees the whole word, but that doesn’t make sense to her because she can’t remember it, as a word. But we know she can remember the letters. Maybe she should be working on reading the letters, not the whole word." (5.41)
When you can read letters, you can sound out words, and it can also make you a better speller. We wonder why this revelation never occurred to any of the professional teachers Maybeth has worked with in her life. Way to go, guys.
Quote #9
"Now I can’t say what book this came out of – if it came out of a book. I can’t even say for sure that it did come out of a book. Maybe somebody else helped Dicey write it." (7.66)
Why can’t Mr. Chappelle see that brilliant writers can be brilliant when they’re young? We really hope Dicey returns to his class as a grownup and slaps her Pulitzer down on his desk. Although if she's going to go be a boat maker, we can't imagine she'll have much time for writing.