How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Line)
Quote #1
"I mean," she said, sitting back up and tucking the tissue all delicate-like into her bag, "he belongs where he belongs. If he ended up here, then that's where he belongs." (2.33)
Maybe belonging someplace is really that simple—wherever you are is where you belong. The other kids are all weirded out that there is a white kid living in their midst, but Samantha sees it as perfectly natural.
Quote #2
I like this side, I said.
Sean kept staring out the window.
Maybe if you were standing somewhere else and looking over here, you'd think the houses weren't real special. The way some of them could use new windows or some new paint. The way the doors hung off of some and other ones had some cardboard sometimes where a window should be. (3.6-8)
Frannie's "home" may not look like much to other people, but she thinks it's perfect. She loves this side of the highway and could not imagine life anywhere else—after all, this is where she was born and raised, and this is where her loved ones live.
Quote #3
We had everything we needed on this side—huge supermarkets like Bohack when you have to do the big family shop once a week[…] We had the Price School, where I went—Mama said we could make believe it was named for Leontyne Price, the black opera singer… (3.17)
This side of the highway pretty much has every single thing that their community needs in order to feel at home. Granted, it doesn't have white people, but Frannie doesn't care—she likes it here. Sean isn't so convinced that it's right to be segregated like this, though.
Quote #4
"I lived on the other side of the highway already," the Jesus Boy said softly. He kept looking down at his hands, like he was talking to them, like he was talking to himself. "We… my family didn't belong there." (4.47)
All the kids keep telling Jesus Boy to go on back to the other side of the highway, where he belongs. But it's not that simple: Even on the other side of the highway, Jesus Boy felt like he did not fit in. He wants to find a home where he belongs.
Quote #5
"Where's my woman?!" Daddy said, loud. He shook us off of him and did his caveman walk into the living room. "I'm hungry and I'm tired! And why can't this man smell something good cooking?" (8.26)
Everyone has their own sense of what home is, and for Frannie and her family, it means all of them together while something delicious cooks in the kitchen. We won't argue with this concept at all.
Quote #6
The music was so loud, I didn't even hear Grandma come in until she was standing right near me, telling me to turn it down. Sean jumped off the couch and hugged her. I nearly jumped into her arms. (11.3)
Everything that Frannie loves is within arm's length when she's at home—even her grandma shows up unexpectedly and cuddles up with her beloved grandkids. It's just a sweet cuddlefest.
Quote #7
"You all right, my man," he said, giving the Jesus Boy the Power sign. "You think you gonna stay at Price?"
Jesus Boy took another piece of licorice out of his pocket, put half of it in his mouth and chewed slowly. He looked calmly over the school yard. "Don't have no place else to go," he said. "Gotta stay." (15.11-12)
It looks like Jesus Boy and his family is here to stay—whether Trevor and his cronies like it or not. This is their new home, and they're going to make the best of it. They're going to try to fit in and make some roots.
Quote #8
The Jesus Boy raised his hand. "When I was three years old, my mama and daddy brought me home and told me that they'd be my mama and daddy from that point on—"
I heard someone whisper, "So that's it! He's adopted!" but the Jesus Boy didn't hear. Or maybe he ignored them.
"And from then on, that was my mom and that was my dad." (20.15-17)
A home isn't necessarily made up of the people who gave birth to you. Jesus Boy is adopted, but he considers his home wherever his adopted parents are. They're the people who raised him and showed him all the love in the world.
Quote #9
The baby inside Mama's belly grows and grows. This morning, I wake to find her in the rocker by the window, staring out into the sun. She looks beautiful sitting there with all the light around her. (22.1)
Frannie's mama looks most at home when she's sitting in the living room, feeling completely contented to be surrounded by her kids (even the one in her belly). That's the real definition of home to Mama.
Quote #10
Everything in the living room is lit up bright gold by the sun. I stand there staring at the way it falls across the couch and the coffee table and Mama in her rocking chair and Sean on the floor beside her. (22.5)
Home sweet home. When Frannie describes her lit-up living room, it's clear that we're seeing it through her eyes—which are full of love and hope. She absolutely loves her home and all that it has to offer. It's no mansion, but it's where she feels warm and safe.